Heart of Fire
by Rapidfyrez
Summary: Jack didn't know it, but he was more than just a friend and ally to the Autobots. He was born to be an Ambassador between humanity and their long lost allies. But when these allies start returning, will he be strong enough to face them, to be the Ambassador between three races? Or will he be overwhelmed, crushed, and left as nothing more as ashes?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Born in Fire

The night air was crisp and cool, matching the clear sky and perfectly round moon that marked the beginning of Autumn. The Nevada desert landscape was smooth swept by the thousands of years of wind blowing across its sandy plains. In the distance, great mounds of Earth, mesas, rose to the heavens, obscuring the millions of stars that twinkled in the sky.

To those in the city though, they did not notice. As small as Jasper was, the people who resided in it were far too busy with their own lives to pay any attention to the beautiful gem for which they resided in.

Whether it be working late night shifts in the towns few local businesses, visiting family, or shopping at the local grocery store, they were all wrapped up in their own business. In one such location, near the outskirts of town where a small suburb in the process of being constructed resided, one of the newly built houses became the new home for a new mother.

June Darby had finally returned to her new home, the proud mother of a baby boy. His father would have been overjoyed to see him when he'd been born. But sadly, shortly after June told him about her pregnancy, he was killed in a tragic car accident, leaving her to struggle through the pregnancy alone. The rest of her family was either dead or lived in New York. She didn't want to go back to that city though, so she'd worked through her studies to become a nurse while pregnant in Nevada.

When her water broke and she finally gave birth though, her heart had nearly shattered. The infant, who she had named Jack, was a stillborn. He made no noise, did not move when he was born. June had feared the worse, that she'd gone through everything, only to be left utterly alone, no family, no husband, and no child.

But, as if some great deity had taken pity on her, the baby seemed to come to life within half an hour. And boy did he have a pair of lungs on him. The baby had bawled and cried and made every other noise possible for a baby to make. His lungs were healthy, that was for sure.

Even then the doctors had kept her, and by extension Jack, in the hospital for nearly a month to make sure he was truly healthy and given the strongest start possible. They had insured he was well taken care of, but they were worried about one thing. His eyes never opened the entire time. They remained firmly shut through it all, yet he seemed healthy besides that.

When the doctors had reluctantly released her, they instructed the woman to inform them the moment the babies eyes opened so they could ensure he was not born with some sort of defect. Or if he was, so they could fix it before something bad happened.

Now though, none of that mattered to June. What mattered was the sleeping infant in the car seat behind her. She peaked into the rear view mirror, the babies sleeping form making her smile. Though about as shapeless as most infants, he had a larger than average amount of black hair that adorned his head. His peaceful face brought peace to the mothers own heart, and she pulled into the driveway, coming to a stop in front of the garage.

She stepped out and opened the back door, taking the infant out of his little car seat, cradling him with the utmost care. He stirred slightly, but quickly fell back to sleep. June smiled and closed the door, walking to the front door to the new house.

The front door opened silently, revealing a bare living room that was connected to a clean white kitchen and dining room. June had no money or time to decorate the house yet, and was only able to buy the bare essentials. A bed, food, and cradle for her newborn son. That and a TV and small single chair in the living room. That was about it.

Yet she was fine with that, so long as her son was safe and able to grow up without any troubles. June made her way to the hall where her room and Jacks new room were located. She was going to put him in the cradle, when he suddenly stirred in her arms, waking up.

June smiled down at the little infant, who balled his tiny fists up, taking a part of her shirt in it and yawning wide, "Evening sleepy head." she cooed, stroking his ebony hair with care.

"Gah!" the baby cried happily, grabbing his mother finger in one of his little fists, "Gah!"

The mother smiled wider and looked up at his room. So small, with just the basic essentials an infant needed. Changing station, cradle, and a small rocking chair in the corner. A single room let the moonlight stream in.

June started at the odd feeling she felt from the night sky. Like something was calling her out into the backyard. She supposed that it couldn't hurt, but made sure to wrap Jack in one of the baby blankets first. After all, it was a chilly night.

Once that was done, she grabbed a chair and brought it out onto the back porch. She sat in it, cradling Jack while gazing up at the stars. They were beautiful in every way imaginable, and she wished her baby boy would open his eyes. This would be a wondrous thing to see for the first time.

"Jack," she whispered softly, "Take a look,"

The baby kept his eyes stubbornly shut though, and June sighed. He'd open them when he was ready, no point in rushing him yet. June looked back up at the sky, and saw something glimmer under the moonlight.

It wasn't a star, as it seemed to be getting bigger. It wasn't a plane either, as the glimmer was a result of the moon reflecting off it. June stood up, narrowing her eyes to get a better look at the mysterious object.

As it grew closer, she began to make out the form. Four limbs, two wings, and a…tail. She had heard of these creatures, but none had been seen since the start of World War I. They were thought extinct. What was one doing here in Jasper Nevada of all places? And why was it getting closer to her house!?

June stood up from the chair rather suddenly, inciting a whine of protest from Jack. She ignored it as she moved to the door. It was too late though, the creature had grown close enough to see her, and dived down to her, spreading its massive wings. It landed with a ground shaking boom in her backyard, and June took a step back, mouth gaping.

The creature was _huge _well over 20 feet tall at the shoulder and well over three times that length from head to tail. Its entire body was lean and muscled, built for flight and strength. It was coated in glimmering white scales from its large triangular head, to its spiked tail. Long spikes ran down its back, and its four legs were clawed with four toes. It had a long serpentine neck, with a triangular head at the end that was nearly as long as June was tall. Two large horns split from the back of its head, with a crest covering the top of them.

A single word entered Junes mind to describe this magnificent beast.

_Dragon._

The mysterious allies of humanity that had vanished without a trace at the start of World War I, and never been seen again. Thought extinct, nearly confirmed. And yet, here was one, standing before her in all its glory.

June held back a gulp as the massive white dragon lowered its large head till a single silvery eye, slit down the middle like a snakes, looked at her and her infant. It looked her over once, before its eye swiveled down to look at her child.

Acting on instinct, June held the babe to her chest, an action that the dragon found amusing. A low coughing growl emanated from its throat, sounding like it was coughing and laughing. That alone confused June, but what followed nearly made her jaw drop.

**"Your child is in no danger from me, human." **The dragon spoke, parting its jaws for a moment and exposing stark white teeth that looked like long steak knives. But given how the dragon had just spoken to her, in a voice that seemed old and booming, that hardly seemed like her biggest concern.

June held her baby tight, "W-what d-do you want?" she demanded.

**"The infant." **the dragon said, **"Show him to me." **

Despite every instinct screaming at her to do the exact opposite, June lowered her child from her chest so the dragon could see him. It arched its head to look up and directly at Jack, allowing June to really see its scales. They were old, scratched, and sometimes torn. This dragon was old, very old. And it was staring down at her son, whose eyes had still remained shut.

The dragon clicked his- for clearly it was a he- jaws together, making an odd clicking noise. To Junes shock, the babies eyes opened, looking from the dragon, to his mother. Her breath caught in her throat, his pupils were slit. Like the dragons.

The pupils quickly rounded out, and the dragon snaked its head back to its body, before bowing to her, **"Mother of the Ambassador, your son is the one we have waited for, ever since the last Ambassador was killed. I have roamed the Earth searching for your child. And now, I have found him."**

June's breath caught in her throat. The Ambassador, her son? But… the Ambassador had died at the beginning of World War I, killed in peace talks. How could her son possibly be the next one? It had been almost 90 years since then.

The dragon sensed her confusion, " **The Ambassador can sometimes be reborn years after the last ones death. This infant is the largest gap yet seen. But he has the fire, the gift. In 16 years time, that gift will begin to reveal itself. When it does, the dragons will return to the mortal world. Your child will be the one to help both Dragon and Human live together once again."**

His massive bat like wings spread themselves wide, **"Until then, care for your child as any other human. Until he has matured, he is not to know. If he did, it could corrupt him. Teach him, let him discover what he is on this own."**

He beat his wings down, buffeting the surrounding area with wind and took off into the night sky. It quickly vanished, the only sign it had ever been here being the deep gashes in the earth from its claws.

June looked down at Jack, who was looking up at her, his eyes sparkling in the night. They were blue, stormy blue, and filled with innocence. Yet the dragons proclamation troubled her. He was the Ambassador, a being to act as his namesake between the humans and dragons. Both dragon and human, the last one had died in World War I at peace talks, assassinated by humans. It was the first time a _human _had killed the Ambassador, and the dragons had been enraged. But instead of joining the war, as the humans had likely planned, they had just vanished.

And now, when her son turned 16 they would come back. June stroked the small child's hair. 16 was a long ways away. Until then, she would raise her son as if he were no different. For once the dragons started to return, his life wouldn't be normal anymore.

"I promise you," she whispered, "That you will live as normal a life as possible, my little Jack."

The baby burbled and giggled in response, making June smile. He was so cute and innocent now. She hoped he would stay that way.

* * *

June sat in the waiting room of the principal's office at Jasper elementary. She'd received a call saying her son had gotten into a fight at school. The third one this year. Each time it had been because that bully Vince loved picking on him. The last two times had Vince calling Jack a bunch of awful names, and making fun of his 'split eyes'.

Jack protested he didn't have 'split eyes' that they were perfectly normal. And they were, every time someone looked at his eyes, the pupils were perfectly round. June had a feeling though that Jack sometimes unintentionally _let _them change to split.

She was just grateful that was the only sign of what he would become. If the world knew her son was the next Ambassador, it would… it would change his life forever. Hence why it was vital no one ever know.

"Ms. Darby?" the secretary said, causing June to look up, "Mr. Battle will see you now."

June nodded her thanks and walked to the door, opening the office door. It was a relatively small office, with several large metal filing cabinets dominating the far wall. A large desk sat in the middle of the room, covered in papers and a large computer set to the right. Mr. Battle sat in a rolling chair, hands folded. He wore a white button down shirt with a red tie, and had black hair that was just starting to grey.

Two chairs sat in front of the desk, one of them occupied by the eight year old form of her son Jack Darby. He'd grown well for a boy his age, and was wearing a white long sleeve shirt and long pants that were too long for him but he insisted fit him perfectly fine. His black hair as usual was a wild untamed mess. As it always was.

"Ms. Darby, so happy you could join us." Mr. Battle motioned for her to sit.

June took a seat, looking at her son for a brief moment. He hung his head and had a few bruises and dirt covering his face. She looked at Mr. Battle, "What exactly happened? Is Jack in trouble?"

"According to him, Vince started the fight." Mr. Battle said, his face neutral.

"He did!" the boy suddenly protested, "He tried taking my spot from me, but I wouldn't let him!"

June looked to the principal for clarification. Mr. Battle sighed, "According to people who saw the fight, Vince tried to take the seat that Jack normally sits at during lunch. Jack asked him to leave, and Vince didn't."

"And then he attacked him?" June asked, looking at her son with a worried look.

"Some say that Vince shoved him away, others say it was Jack." Mr. Battle said.

"But Jack won't say which."

The adults looked at Jack, who was still hanging his head. June had a feeling she knew why Jack did what he did, and it was related to the other half of him. The dragon half.

"He was in my spot. It was my spot, he shouldn't have been in my spot." the boy said, not looking up.

That confirmed it. June had read up on dragon behavior and biology after the visit, and found that one thing _all _dragons had in common was they were extremely territorial. Their territory, and anyone who lived in it, was their property. Anyone who tried to steal it, would have to beat the dragon in single combat.

And it seemed that though he looked and acted human, Jack was just starting to show signs of his dragon side in his instincts. June sighed inwardly, dragon instinct or not, he was still human and needed to be disciplined for that.

"Jack, you know that you could have found a different spot." she scolded.

He looked up at her with sad eyes, "But mom, it's _my _spot!" he protested.

She shook her head, "Jack, what have we been over?" she asked.

A guilty look passed over his eyes and he bowed his head again, "That I need to share." he muttered.

"Exactly, and getting in fights over a spot at lunch isn't right. Do you understand?" she asked.

He nodded, "Good." June said, patting his back.

She looked at Mr. Battle, "He won't cause any more trouble, I promise." she said before quickly looking at her son, "Go wait in the waiting room, I'll be right there." she urged him forward.

The little boy hopped down from the chair and left the office, sitting out in the waiting room. June looked back to Mr. Battle, who looked unconvinced, "That's the third time this has happened Mrs. Darby."

"I know Robert." June sighed, "I was here for them, remember?"

He was not amused, "If this happens again, you know what the punishment is."

June frowned. Four times sent to the principal's office lead a student being expelled from school. Something Jack couldn't afford. There were no other schools in Jasper for a kid his age, where would he go?

She nodded, "I understand, I'll talk with him."

"Please do."

And with that, June left the office, seeing Jack sitting on one of the chairs, fidgeting with his fingers. She waved for him to follow, and he quickly grabbed his backpack before following after his mother.

They began walking through the hall, staying relatively quiet. Unlike the other schools in Jasper, which were all indoors, the elementary school was an outdoor school, which meant the halls were merely paths connecting classrooms together. Normally Jack would be running in the grass or messing around in some way.

But right now, he and June were silent. That is until he looked up at her, "I'm sorry." he said softly.

"Hmm?" June said, looking down at him.

"I'm sorry." Jack repeated, "I didn't mean to get in trouble. I just didn't want Vince in my spot."

June came to a stop and sighed, before kneeling to eye level with him, "You know what happens if you get sent to the principal again Jack, right?"

He nodded, his eyes downcast, "Then I need you to promise me something." she said.

"What?"

"Promise me you won't get in anymore fights ok?" June asked, "If you get expelled, I won't be able to work, and we might lose the house if I can't work."

The little boys eyes went wide, "I don't want to lose the house!" he yelled, his young mind comprehending all this. He hugged his mom.

"I didn't know mom. I'm sorry." he whispered. June smiled and rubbed his back softly.

"I know you didn't Jack. That's why I told you, so you'd understand." she broke the hug and held him by the shoulders at arm's length, "That's why I need you to promise me, no more fights okay?"

Jack nodded violently, "I promise mommy, I promise."

June smiled proudly, "Good boy," she tussled his hair, causing him to giggle and push her hands away.

"Mom!" he protested, shielding his head.

June chuckled, "What? I was just styling your hair, see?" she tussled his hair again, making him shriek and duck down to hid his head.

This time, June just wrapped an arm around his mid section and hoisted him up, causing him to squeal and squirm, giggling all the time.

"Time to go home Jack!" she laughed, holding him over his shoulder.

"Mom! Put me down!' he ordered through his fit of giggles.

"I don't think I will." June smiled as the two walked into the parking lot. She walked to her tan colored Ford sedan, and set Jack on the roof before unlocking the doors.

"Can I ride in the front?" he asked, bouncing on the roof, "Please?"

June thought for a moment, "I don't know, I don't think you're big enough." she said, a knowing smile on her face.

"I am, I am!" he insisted, hopping up and down.

"I'm not sure…" she turned away, hiding her smile at Jacks eagerness.

"Please!?" Jack begged, folding his hands together.

June turned around and froze at his eyes. The pupils were split and reptilian again. She hadn't seen that in almost a year. Vince had some truth to what he said apparently.

"S-sure." she said quickly. She noted that the moment she said that, his eyes returned to normal.

Still, seeing them like that was worrisome. The dragon said that he wouldn't develop his powers until he was 16. If so, why were his eyes still like that? She'd tried researching the Ambassador in addition with the dragons, but the information on an Ambassador was scarce at best. No one knew what they did anymore, except that they were the bridge between humans and dragons.

That was it.

"Yay!" Jack cheered, hopping down from the roof. June opened the door for him and let him in, before getting into the driver's seat.

She pulled out of the parking spot and began the drive home. Jack eagerly peaked out the window at the passing scenery, making June smile. As much trouble as her son could be, she still loved him with all her heart. And besides, it wasn't like he could get into too much trouble, at least not at this age. Until he was 16, she could handle anything he dished out. She hoped.

The drive home was quick and painless, June pulling into the garage and letting Jack out. The boy bounded out and quickly hopped inside, his backpack bouncing with each step. June followed in after locking the car, and noted how the house had changed in the eight years since she'd brought him home.

The kitchen was still clean, if a little more customized now with utensils she'd bought over the years. The living room had a larger three person couch in front of an upgraded TV. And of course, in the hall pictures of June and Jack together decorated the hall. Even on a nurses salary, she and Jack were lucky in the things they were able to do together.

She supposed that since it was just the two of them and the house was paid off(she'd gotten it as a discount due to how small and unknown Jasper was) there was no harm in having fun together. June stopped at Jacks room, looking at its change. The crib was long gone now, replaced with a small twin sized bed resting in the corner. A dresser rested at the base of the bed, and a bathroom was connected to his room, one of two.

But the feature she noticed, was the presence of dragon based anything in the room. While not obsessed with them, Jack did have several pictures of dragons spread through his room, and a few books on them. They fascinated him, and he liked bouncing theories off his mom on why they'd just upped and left after the Ambassador died.

June had just smiled and listened, not wanting to comment on any of it. When the time came, Jack was sure to find out. For better or for worse.

* * *

June was laying in her room hours later trying to fall asleep. She'd put Jack to sleep a few hours ago, and last she checked he was comfortably asleep. It made her happy to see him like that, peaceful and without any worries.

She herself had found one of the books on dragons she'd read when she'd first found out about her sons possible destiny. Now with what appeared to be dragon instincts surfacing, she was preparing herself for the inevitable.

If Jack was going to start acting like a dragon in any way shape or form (weird idea in itself for her) she needed to be ready.

What she wasn't ready for though, was the sudden blood chilling scream that emanated from Jacks room. The book dropped from her hands and she was out of the bed in seconds.

"Jack!?" she cried, stumbling through the hall and into his room.

The boy was thrashing in his bed, getting tangled in his sheets. He kept snarling angrily, almost feral, before letting out another scream. June dashed to the side of the bed and held his arms down to keep him from hurting himself.

"Jack!" she yelled, trying to wake him, "Wake up!"

He continued to thrash, and June noticed something that scared her. His skin had taken on a scaly pattern to it. Not actual scales, but the pattern was there. Add the thrashing and screaming, and he almost looked and sounded like a very human dragon. Almost, not quiet.

Realizing that yelling hadn't worked, June instead hugged the boy instead, holding him tightly to her chest as he continued to thrash, the snarls and screams being reduced to whimpers. Slowly, the thrashing ceased, and Jack panted heavily before sobbing lightly and nuzzling against his mothers shoulder.

"Shh, it's alright Jack, I'm here." she cooed, stroking his head lightly.

The boys small frame trembled in her arms, though his sobbing lessoned, "Nightmare?" she asked, cocking her head to the side.

He nodded into her shoulder, "Do you want to tell me what it was about?"

Jack shuddered as he took in a breath, "I-I don't know. I-it was d-dark, there was a lot of s-screaming and roar-roaring, and the ground kept shaking. I cou-couldn't see anything." he said, his trembling increasing.

"It wasn't real Jack." June said, giving her son a comforting smile, "It was just a dream, I promise you, okay?"

Jack nodded and hugged her, "Can I sleep in your bed tonight?" he asked in a shaky voice.

June smiled and patted his head, "Of course Jack."

On the outside she sounded fine, downright confident, but on the inside, she was worried. Her son had a nightmare, not that he was a stranger to them, but this one was different. This was a nightmare that sounded like it involved dragons. What if he found out what he was in a dream? How would he react? Would he be able to handle it?

June wasn't sure on any of those fronts. And that, that scared her…

**A/N: So surprise story for you all. This was an idea I've been kicking around with my vampire story, but didn't really get any thought put into it until I watched a Docudrama about dragons. So this fic was born out of that. No it won't replace the crossover, it's just a side project for when Elhini and I are too busy to work on the crossover. Now that said, what do you guys think of this story huh? Don't worry, bots will appear in the next chapter. But that leaves a question I have for you, at what point in season one should the main plot start? Beginning, Predatory, which one? You decide, and let me know in the reviews. And remember to critique it as well as PM me with questions on the upcoming plot. The next chapter of the crossover is coming guys, but in the meantime, I hope you enjoy this fic. Bye!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Dragon Convoy

Years passed by, quickly and without any real trouble. June watched as her little boy slowly grew up into a respectable young man, even going out to work at the local burger joint (even if he did despise the place).

There had been no more incidents concerning his Dragon heritage, and except on rare occasions, his eyes remained normal. The only exception to this was his nightmares, a monthly occurrence where his eyes split and his skin became scaled. Yet he never noticed it, not once through his whole life had he even suspected what he was. And for that, June was grateful.

But now he was 16, the year the great white dragon said he would develop his powers. It had been two months since his 16th birthday, and no sign of them had emerged, whatever they were. No book had the information she was looking for, and Jack seemed perfectly normal. For his sake, she hoped so.

Speaking of Jack, the young man walked out of his room, dressed in what had become his standard attire. A grey shirt worn over a white long sleeved shirt and long jeans with a pair of sneakers. His ebony hair had slowly been tamed over the years, yet still had a wild sense to it. And of course, to Junes utter horror; he had started to develop facial hair. Not to the amount his father had (the man loved his facial hair) but enough that June was starting to feel old.

"Morning mom." he greeted sleepily, rubbing some sleep out of his eye, "What's on the menu this morning?"

"The usual." June said, not looking up from the stove.

Jack groaned, "Great, organic tofu." he muttered.

"Actually, its sausage and eggs mister." June turned around, hands on hips.

"But..." her eyes gleamed evilly, "I could always break that out if you want."

He paled, "No no no, sausage and eggs sound good!" he quickly said.

June smiled, "Good." and went back to cooking. Though her cooking skills were far from five stars, she was still able to scrape together a fairly decent continental breakfast.

"Here you are." she slid a plate down across the table to her son, before taking her own seat.

Jack looked at the food with wide eyes before wolfing it down hungrily with his fork and knife. It didn't even last more than a few seconds before only a few crumbs were left. Judging by the satisfied look on his face, June assumed that he liked it.

The teen reclined against his chair for a moment, before frowning, "Hey mom, what's up with all the food lately? You never used to cook this stuff before."

June took a moment to think about that. She had never been a fan of junk foods, always wanting her son to be healthy instead of happy in the eating department. It was why he had a skinny but lean build, even if he did complain about being underweight. June knew better of course, Jack was the perfect weight given his 5'9 height, and had no reason to be ashamed of it.

But lately, June had softened her rule on unhealthy rules. Why? Because when Jacks powers did arrive, his life would forever change. According to history, the Ambassador would face many challenges from many dragons over territory. For a dragon, defeating an Ambassador in combat was a great feat of strength and skill. It guaranteed them status, territory, and mates.

So June had decided that before this happened, before Jacks life was turned upside down, he should enjoy it a little. That was part of the reason she let him keep that motorcycle in the garage. When he'd first brought it home, June had nearly had a heart attack. She knew what happened to people on those things and didn't want her son on that death trap.

Of course though, she'd eventually listened to his arguments, and let him keep it as long as he wore a helmet. It was just one of many things that the coming changes caused her to be a little less strict about. But June couldn't let her son know that.

"I just thought you could use a little more meat in your diet." June lied, "After all, you have been complaining about, 'bulking up', I believe was the term?"

Jacks cheeks turned red, "I…don't think I said _that _in those words." he rubbed the back of his head.

June rolled her eyes, "Uh huh, if you say so." she smiled knowingly.

"Okay, time for me to go." Jack said, standing out of his seat and picking his backpack off the floor.

His mom stood up with him, "No goodbye hug for your mother?"

Jack sighed and gave her a quick hug, "Bye mom, I've got to get to school now." he said, pulling away.

She waved as he trotted to the garage, "Have a good day!"

"I will!"

June sighed as the garage door closed shut behind him. What was she going to do with that boy?

* * *

A blue modified sports bike sped down the street at a break neck pace, its rider wearing a silver helmet. Jack lowered himself to the seat, letting the feeling of the wind rushing by him. Going fast down the street was something he loved, the wind flowing over his form, pushing against him… it felt natural.

The blue and pink bike he rode though… was far from ordinary. In actuality, the bike was one of two forms worn by the autonomous organism from the planet Cybertron, or Autobot, named Arcee. She and Jack had accidently met when the teen had seen her at his place of work and wanted to take a little ride. This unfortunately meant he was on her when a group of Decepticons, the enemies of the Autobots, began to chase her.

After she lost them, and he, and another boy named Raf, lost her. The rest of the Autobots later picked those two and a foreign exchange student named Miko up and brought them to their base to meet their leader Optimus Prime. The Prime explained the secret conflict between the two factions and explained that they needed to be watched by them should the Decepticons ever come after them.

With that explained, their adventures had ranged from preventing the cons from bringing an army of undead machines powered by Dark Energon to Earth, to fighting off metal eating parasites, and even stopping a Decepticon spy from disguising himself as an Autobot and reporting the Autobot base's location to the Decepticons.

To say it had been a chaotic month for Jack was putting it lightly. Yet he wouldn't trade it for anything. His whole life he'd needed a purpose besides caring for his mother, not that he didn't find that important, he did. And now he had found that purpose in helping the Autobots.

And at the moment, he and Arcee were speeding to his high school, a standard day for them. Arcee was his ride to school, his work, his house, and eventually the Autobot base. The femme had been quite annoyed with being assigned to watch Jack, but over time had accepted her role and he considered her a good friend.

Jacks train of thought was interrupted though, when Arcee pulled into the parking lot for the school. It was a three story brick building, with a green lawn out front and a pair of stairs leading up to it. As usual, the parking lot was virtually abandoned, except for two vehicles.

One was a yellow Urbana 500 with black highlights, while the other was a large green SUV with huge off road tires. Bulkhead and Bumblebee, the Autobot wrecker and scout respectively. And sitting or standing in front of them, were their human charges. Miko Nakadai and Rafael Esquival.

Arcee pulled to a stop in the parking lot, letting Jack off, "Hey guys!" he greeted, taking his helmet off and putting it in Arcee's subspace.

"Sorry I'm late, big breakfast." Jack explained, saying a quick goodbye to Arcee.

Miko smirked, "Fun, tofu sausage and eggs." she muttered, standing up from the curb. She had pale skin and wore a blue shirt and short combo with purple and black leggings along with big black boots. Her pink and black hair was tied up into two pigtails and a ponytail.

"It wasn't that bad." Jack said, slinging his backpack over his shoulder.

"Uh huh, right." Miko had a grin on her face.

"Uh guys," Raf interrupted, readjusting his red glasses, "We should get to history class, it starts in five minutes."

Raf was something of a child prodigy; even though he was 12 years old he could hack about any system, and because of his intelligence, had been propelled to his junior year in high school with Jack and Miko. His hair was brown and spiked, and he always wore an orange vest over a tan button down long sleeved shirt coupled with baggy blue jeans and sneakers. A laptop was never too far from the boy.

"Oh, right." Jack said, realizing how close first period was to starting.

The three kids looked to their respective guardians and waved goodbye. There was no visible sign from the vehicles, but they knew the bots would wave back if they didn't have to stay hidden.

Their goodbyes done, the group made their way into the school, moving quickly down the tiled and nearly empty halls until they came to the history class. The room was nearly full, but three seats, one at the back, one in the middle, and one at the front, remained free of a student presence.

Miko took the seat at the back, Jack the one in the middle, and Raf the one at the front. Just in time too, as the teacher, Ms. Maneevone, entered the room.

"Morning class." she greeted, setting her work on her desk at the front.

"I assume you all did your homework?" she said, eyes flicking up at the class.

The nervous look on most of the student's faces was answer enough, "That's what I thought. Those who did, put them on the front desk, the rest of you have till Friday to make this up."

There was a simultaneous groan from many of the students (Miko among them), as Ms. Maneevone began collecting the assignment.

"Ah ah ah, none of the sass." she ordered, collecting the papers on Jacks row.

Jack had actually like this history report for once and worked his tail off on it. The report? History on the disappearance of the dragons and make your own personal theory on _why _they'd vanished. Though his interest in dragons had waned over the years, he wouldn't deny that he still found the creatures and the history behind them fascinating.

His teacher gave him an approving look as she took the paper from his hand and finished her rounds, setting them on the desk, "I see that at least two/thirds of you did your assignment. Very good."

She turned around and pulled the projector screen down, "Since the majority of the class did the assignment, today we will talk about one of the most important events in human history."

Maneevone pressed a few keys on her laptop, starting the projector that hung from the ceiling of the class, "The Human/Dragon war. Or as it is more commonly known, the War of Extinction."

Remote in hand, the teacher flicked through a power point showing various paintings ranging from prehistoric to renaissance, "But first, who can tell me how long Dragons were around?"

Several hands shot up, and Maneevone pointed to a red haired girl named Sierra. The girl Jack had a massive crush on, even if he denied it at every turn.

"Yes, Sierra?"

Sierra lowered her hand, "According to most theories, Dragons were around since the late cretaceous period and survived the asteroid impact that wiped the dinosaurs out by retreating underwater were they evolved into sea serpents for a time. Once the Earth was habitable, they returned to dry land where they re-evolved into the modern form we know today."

Maneevone nodded, "That would be correct, this of course means that Dragons were the oldest living creatures on this planet, and for a time the dominant race. That is until humans evolved."

There was a click and diagrams of humans and pictures of ancient human cities appeared on screen, "According to ancient texts, when we began developing true civilization, some worshiped the dragons as gods, feeding them and making sacrifices to them." there were several snickers through the class and Jacks fist curled.

For some reason that reaction irritated him. The dragons were stronger, bigger and arguably more intelligent than any human, so why shouldn't they be worshipped? Jack shook his head and blinked, where on Earth had _that _thought come from?

Shaking it off as nothing more than a random thought, he returned his attention to the lecture, "But as time passed, tension grew between human and dragon. Humans live far shorter lives when compared to the dragons, but we multiplied quicker. So things like food and land became more important to us."

Maneevone scanned the classroom, "Can anyone tell me why this would cause problems?"

On instinct, Jack raised his hand. Maneevone looked at him surprised; he almost never raised his hand, "Jack?"

He blinked, realizing what he'd done before lowering his hand. All eyes were on him and he took a moment to think about what he would say.

It came to him in a flash, "Humans started expanding their land and hunting grounds larger and larger, going into dragon territory. Because dragons are so territorial, they took this as an act of aggression and retaliated by burning down villages and killing hunters who wandered too far in."

"Seems a bit harsh." one of the kids snorted.

Jack turned to face them, "How would you feel if someone waltzed into your house and started taking your food without asking or talking to you? Just took it?"

The silent response was all the answer he needed, and Jack returned his attention to the teacher, "Yes, disputes over territory became common, and because humans were still fairly centralized at that time amongst the Mediterranean Sea, the dragons decided to end this before it got out of hand."

She clicked the remote and pictures of war showing massive scaled beasts diving towards scores of armored men wielding spear and sword and breathing great tongues of fire upon them appeared on screen.

"The Dragons gathered their entire kind, and launched assault after assault on dozens of human cities in a single attack, killing hundreds of thousands in a single day. Since no one knew the true numbers of the dragons, no one expected the attack. And even after that, the dragons continued to pillage cities and villages, leaving destruction in their wake."

Maneevone scanned the class again, "Now, who knows what turned the tide of the war?"

Raf raised his hand, "The Roman Republic managed to bring the remaining nations under their control and began fighting back against the dragons, right?"

"That's correct," Maneevone nodded, "And basically the next few years were slaughter for both sides. Neither side gained an advantage over the other. The dragons were stronger and more powerful, but the Roman Empire as it was called, had numbers and organization on their side. It was enough that things evened out. Had it continued, we would not be here today."

Maneevone let that sink in before continuing, "But a single key event changed this. A group of humans and dragons met in secret to negotiate a treaty. The Compact as it is now known as, which ended the war with a series of conditions. Anyone know what those were?"

Again, Jacks hand went up, "Two in a row Jack, huh?" she quipped, making him blush a little, "Go ahead." she motioned for him to start.

"Each Dragon territory was to encompass a single town or village as their territory. It would be given to a new dragon, and the town was in charge of leaving a small supply of its food available for the dragon. In return, the dragon helped the towns expand and protected it from other dragons or invaders."

"That's a very basic summary of it, but yes." the teacher said, "But there was one other thing, something that baffles scientist to this day."

Jack thought for a moment before the gears clicked, "The Ambassador." he said, feeling an odd tingle down his spine.

Maneevone nodded, "Yes, the Ambassador, a male who was born human but had the soul, the spirit of a dragon. Unfortunately, we don't know much about the Ambassador, most of what we did know was lost decades ago. But what we do know is this. The Ambassador was a negotiator between man and dragon, helping preserve the peace by ending a fight before it began. We also know that the Ambassador was commonly challenged by other dragons, as defeating him in combat guaranteed them great renown. But, every time one died, a new one took his place."

That got her a question, from the red headed bully Vince, "If a new one takes his place every time one dies, where the hell is the new one?" he demanded.

"Excellent question Vince." she praised, the words sounding sour in her mouth, "The Ambassador, as some of you may know, was assassinated at the beginning of World War I. Normally not a big deal, except his killer was a human. Not a dragon. The first time a human had successfully killed an Ambassador in history. Some think this broke the Compact, and is why the dragons left."

She looked at the students, "And some people, including several well known scientist think that if the Ambassador returns, so will the dragons."

The class was silent at this. No one had ever seen a dragon in the class; they were just myths at this point, legends and ancient history. Almost no one alive knew what a dragon looked or acted like in reality. It was all legend with a few facts as the creatures refused to allow scientist to dissect them or learn anything about them. They were very secretive creatures according to legend, which explained why they only had legend to tell them about them.

Jack looked out one of the windows, his mind wandering. A return of the dragons, the creatures that enthralled his imagination. That would be amazing, but he had to wonder two things. One, how would they feel knowing about a race older than them, and more powerful and intelligent? And two, where was the Ambassador? Was he alive, or had he yet to be reborn? Both these questions were at the forefront of Jacks mind for the rest of the day, until school ended.

* * *

Once school had finished, Jack, Raf, and Miko made their way out to the front parking lot, only to see that their guardians weren't in their usual spots. They looked around for a sign of any of them, only to see nothing.

Jack frowned and Miko crossed her arms, "Dude, where are they?" she demanded.

"Maybe they're on a mission?" Raf suggested.

"Right, I'll give Ratchet a call." Jack flipped open his phone, dialing the medic's number.

A moment later _"Hello?" _

"Ratchet, it's Jack," the teen replied, "We're here at school but the bots aren't. Any idea where they are?"

Ratchet sighed over the phone. He might have been warm and friendly at times (very very rare times) but really he was more of the cranky uncle everyone acknowledged but tried to ignore.

_"They are currently on a mission transporting dangerous military cargo to California. Find a secure location and I will send a bridge." _he said over the line.

"Right, got it." Jack said, "Talk to you in a minute Ratch," and he closed the phone.

"So, what did Hatchet say?" Miko asked a curious look on her face.

"The others are on a mission, so we need to find a place out of sight." Jack explained, "Ratchet will bridge us from there."

"Got it." Miko said, and took off across the street towards an ally. Jack and Raf exchanged looks before running after her.

They caught up in the grimy ally right as Miko sent her call out. Glowing green vortexes sprang to life in front of her and she grinned, "Alright, let's go see what the bots are up to!" she said excitedly before running in.

The base was a large old missile silo, repurposed for Autobot use. Its rocky walls stretched over a hundred feet up, with industrial lights hanging from the rafters. To the left was the Autobots med bay, to the right was a large tunnel that lead to the entrance/exit of the base. A large concrete platform stood directly across from the ground bridge with a large elevator built into the wall and a bright yellow railing lining the edge. Ratchets terminal where he worked the ground bridge, and communicated with the Autobots, sat right in front of the terminal.

The two ran into this massive base, _right _as Ratchet and the Autobot liaison Agent Fowler began a conversation.

"Ratchet we've got a problem" Fowler said over the comm.

"What seems to be the problem Agent Fowler?" Ratchet asked, nodding at the kids.

"The coding that handles the cooling procedure for the D.Y.N.G.U.S has been damaged." Fowler explained.

"The what now?" Miko asked, having missed most of the conversation.

Fowler sighed, "Dynamic Nuclear Generation System A.K.A D.Y.N.G.U.S" he explained, "A human terrorist organization calling themselves MECH has come after it. We managed to get it onto a train, but the coding was damaged."

"So what's the problem?" Jack asked, standing next to Ratchet on the large platform, "Can't it be fixed when you get it to the coast?"

"Not enough time." Fowler answered "If it's not fixed now, the resulting nuclear fallout could make the entire west coast glow in the dark."

Ratchet thought to himself "It could be tricky, but I could bridge Rafael onto the train so he could find and fix the error." he suggested.

"Really?" Fowler asked, raising a brow "Isn't he like 12?"

"12 and a half" Raf corrected "Besides, I've hacked government coding before, this should be no problem. As long as Jack and Miko come with me."

Fowler sighed "Fine, do it, we're all counting on you, kid, so be quick about it."

The transmission cut out, and Ratchet got to work, attempting to lock onto their coordinates.

In the meantime Jack walked up to Raf "You're sure you want to do this?" he asked "It could be dangerous."

"You heard Fowler Jack, if I don't do this, millions of people could die, even us." Raf countered "Besides, it's just a quick trip, we should be fine."

Jack smiled at the preteen's confidence. They'd barely been at base for a few seconds and already were volunteering to help the bots. Again. He just hoped that he was right; there was no telling what could happen to them on the train.

The ground bridge flared to life, and Miko rushed down the stairs to the bridge before turning to the two boys "Well, you guys coming!?" she asked in a happy tone.

Jack sighed and looked to Raf "Well, let's head on through and get this over with." and they walked through the bridge with Miko.

* * *

Jack, Raf and Miko hopped out of the bridge into the train. The walls of the train car were corrugated and rusty, showing signs of age and use. And they were tight, really tight. Jack gulped, he hated tight spaces, he felt restricted in them. Like he was caged in and needed to be free. But the three of them had a job to do, so he ignored it and lead the way.

He opened the train door, and the following one to see a single soldier standing guard. He greeted them with a raised hand "You the specialists Fowler told me about?" he asked.

Raf shook his head "I am, the others are extra protection."

The soldier looked over the two teens. Miko was relatively short and thin, while Jack looked around rather nervously. He was keeping the claustrophobia in check, but for how long he didn't know.

The soldier shrugged "Whatever just get this thing fixed. I'd rather survive my last mission thank you." and he walked off.

Raf walked up to the device and pulled out a cord plugging it in "Alright, time to get to work" he said as numbers and code began flashing across the screen. He began typing fast, hundreds of words a minute, never missing a beat the entire time. He continued like this for several minutes, when there was the sound of a loud clang from the car behind them.

Jack whirled towards the sound "What was that!?" he yelped.

"Relax kid," the soldier said "just stay behind me and everything will be fine."

As if in response to that, three bullets shattered the glass. The soldier cursed and ducked down next to the door, firing blindly through the hole, "Get down!" he ordered, and exchanged fire with their attackers.

"Raf!?" Jack asked the terror obvious in his voice "Please tell me your finished."

"Just… about… there!" he said as he pressed enter on his keyboard "Coding is fixed, no nuclear overloads anytime soon."

Before anyone could call Ratchet for a bridge though, a small explosion ripped open the car door, killing the soldier and causing the other three to stumble around. Jack fell to the floor, feeling disoriented but unharmed.

He didn't have that much time to recover though before three green armor clad soldiers rushed into the room, rifles held at the ready "Get down on the ground!" the tallest one, and clearly the leader ordered.

The three complied, but Jack scowled angrily. Who where these men to tell him what to do? They didn't have his respect, they didn't earn it. And they were invading his territory, hurting his friends. How dare they!

But despite this anger, he remained on the ground, his more logical part of his mind telling him that he would only get hurt if he tried to fight. For the moment, that side won.

The lead troop raised a hand to his radio "Silas, there are two children here with the device, what do you want done with them?"

No one except the soldiers should have been able to hear what Silas said next, but somehow, for the briefest of moments, Jack heard what was said on the radio, "_They're witnesses, kill them."_

"Understood sir." The commander replied, lowering his hand from the radio.

"What do we do sir?" one of the soldiers asked.

The commander looked at him "You all heard Silas" he said, as he drew his pistol from its holster and aimed it at Raf's head, who looked up in fear "No witnesses."

Jack lunged forward, acting on instinct. He was not going to let these men hurt Raf or Miko, not if he could help it. He let out a feral snarl and grabbed the man's gun arm, twisting it up and forcing him to fire into the roof.

"What the-" the man froze as Jack glared at him for a brief moment, his pupils split like a reptiles.

He had no time to say anything, as Jack cracked his head against the mans, stunning him. With a roar, Jack pivoted on his foot and flung the soldier at one of his men. The two went down like a pile of bricks, and the remaining man looked at Jack in time to receive a fist to the face.

Jack gave him no time to recover, and proceeded to land a series of fast and wild blows to the sternum, cracking several ribs. He wasn't finished though. Grabbing the man's mask, Jack yanked him down while kneeing upwards at the same time. The result was a spine tingling crack, and a yell of pain from the man, who went down clutching his nose in front of the other two soldiers.

The three looked up at Jack, whose eyes were still split. If they looked really close, they'd have seen a slight scaly pattern to his skin, but they were too stunned and injured to notice. Jack narrowed his eyes.

"Leave." he ordered, his voice rasping.

The men all looked at each other confused, "NOW!"

Without a moment's hesitation, the three men got up and fled, climbing up the ladder they'd used to get into the train in the first place. As the left, Jacks facial features returned to normal, and he put a hand to his head as he swayed in place. No one noticed the train coming to a slow stop.

"Dude!" Miko yelled, getting up and running to Jack, "Where the frag did you learn to do that!?" she demanded.

Jack blinked a few times as he realized what happened. He'd just beaten the scrap out of three terrorist in seconds with minimal effort. How _did _he do that?

"I…I don't know." he admitted, looking down at his hands, "It was just… instinct."

Miko socked him in the arm, "You have some darn good instincts then Jack." she praised, smiling.

Raf stood up, laptop under his arm, "Yeah, if it hadn't been for you, we would have died. Thanks."

Jack only half heard him. He had been in a few scrapes before, but nothing like that. Normally he was the one getting the scrap beaten out of him, but now… the only thought he could process was a question. How the scrap had he done that?

"You're…welcome…" he murmured, still confused.

"Come on." Miko said rather suddenly, "Bots are waiting for us, can't wait to tell them about how you beat the scrap out of those guys!" she pulled the sliding door open with a heave, and hopped out, sprinting to her giant green guardian.

Raf was about to follow, when he noticed that Jack was still staring at his hands, a confused frown on his face, "You alright?" Raf asked.

Jack looked up from his hands and put on a weak smile, "Yeah, I'm fine Raf, go on ahead. I'll catch up in a minute."

The boy nodded and hopped out of the train, following Miko to meet with the Autobots. All the while, Jack stared at his hands. For a brief moment, he could have sworn he saw scales. But humans didn't have any kind of scales… did they?

* * *

A tall broad shouldered man with a shaven head and scarred face sat at his desk, looking over the mission files for the mission. MECH, the future of humanity, had failed in its endeavor to capture the D.Y.N.G.U.S. Stopped by the Autobots, and… a human child.

He was reviewing the footage of the teen beating his highly trained men near to death, watching for any sign of how he'd done it. The man, Silas, didn't see anything at first, just a teenager with incredible fighting skills. But there had to be more to it. There always was.

Silas re-watched the scene where the kid was up close and personal with the squad commander. He stood up from his chair, "Freeze that image." he ordered the voice activated program.

The image froze, though it was heavily distorted. Silas frowned, "Enhance."

Slowly the distortion cleared up, giving him a perfect picture, "Zoom in on the teenagers eyes."

Silently the computer zoomed in and the man's eyes widened. Split eyes, split eyes and scales around the eyelid. Such a being hadn't been seen in nearly 100 years. Silas fell back into his chair, a hand on his head.

Slowly, a smile spread across his face, "So…" he started, looking at the screen, "100 years since our founders killed you, and you finally come back."

Silas leaned forward, "Well Ambassador, hopefully once MECH has acquired these machines technology, you will be ours. And like before, you will die. _Mortem ad omnes dracones"_

**A/N: DUM DUM DUUUUH! So, I know a LOT of you were requesting predatory for the first one, but after some debate I came to two conclusions. One, that Predatory is INCREDIBLY overused when it comes to revealing powers or secrets, so that will not be happening in my case. And two, I need more time to develop the characters. I know the characters didn't get a lot of development or screen time, but since we have a few chapters until Predatory, that should be plenty of time. But, tell me guys, what did you think of this chapter, what did you think of the lore I introduced for my dragons and humans? Good, bad, meh? Tell me in the reviews, and PM me with ideas, suggestions, or questions concerning the story.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Dreamscape

Jack and Arcee pulled into the garage at his house late at night. The moon rose high overhead, giving plenty of light for the two. Jack paid it no mind though, as his thoughts were elsewhere. He was still trying to figure out how he fought off three MECH goons so easily. They were well trained and armed men, he should have had some challenge, or be dead. But he wasn't.

Instead he'd beaten the three to a pulp with ease. It was like he was moving faster than them, like they were going purposefully slow. And it didn't sit well with Jack. Even after he and the others got back to base, his mind kept wandering back to the events on the train. Honestly, he wasn't sure if that, or the fact that no one else seemed bother by it, seemed to bother him more.

Most of the bots and humans hadn't noticed his rather confused and depressed mood. Except Arcee, his guardian and friend. Once Jack was off her and took his helmet off, the femme transformed. For all intensive purposes, Arcee looked, acted, and sounded like a female, which she was.

Her faceplate was smooth and silver, with two sapphire blue optics resting in the center with bits of violet speckled through them. She had smooth pink lips, and wore a blue helm with pink spikes jutting from the center and running down the side.

As far as bots went, she was easily the smallest, only about 20 feet tall, though she had to kneel down to fit in the garage. She had a blue breast plate that constituted the front of her vehicle form, and two blue winglets sprouting from her back on either side of a half wheel that was also located in her back. Her midsection was silver and segmented and she wore a blue waist guard. Her upper legs were black, and her lower legs were blue with pink highlights, half wheels on her heels.

By both bot and human standards, she'd be considered beautiful. Though to humans it would be more as a work of art than in a sexual or attractive way. Not that Jack ever thought about her like that, he always kept a respectful mind about Arcee.

Jack looked over at Arcee from the work bench where he'd set his helmet, "Something on your mind 'Cee?" he asked.

Arcee frowned, "Not on my mind, but on yours." she said.

Jack blinked back his surprise, "O-on my mind? What do you mean?"

"Ever since the train incident, you've been acting a little odd. Like something's bugging you." She sat back against a wall and crossed her arms, "So spill, what's on your mind?"

"Nothing, it's nothing Arcee." Jack replied, avoiding her optics. Talking about his 'feelings' with Arcee was not something he was used to.

The femme raised an optic ridge, "That's a load of scrap Jack. What's _really_on your mind?" she asked again.

"Arcee…" he whined, letting his shoulders slump.

She didn't budge and Jack sighed, "Fine!" he flung his hands in the air, exasperated, "The incident on the train okay? It's been on my mind all day."

Arcee's faceplate twisted in confusion. That was it? She'd heard about what Jack did on the train. Truthfully she was quite impressed that Jack managed to fight off the MECH terrorists on his own. She never knew he had any fighting skills to begin with, so this surprised her.

"What about the train?" she asked, "From what I heard, you did pretty good out there."

"That's the point." Jack muttered, leaning against the workbench, "I've been in a few fights before Arcee, got my butt kicked. If I couldn't beat a high school bully in a fight, how was I able to take down three trained terrorists?"

Arcee's frown returned, he made a good point, how did he manage to take them down? Far as she knew, Jack had no military training to speak of, "Well, maybe it was good instinct." she suggested, before another possibility popped into her processor, "Or a… what do you humans call it, adrenaline rush?"

Jack thought about that for a moment. People on adrenaline rushes were known to perform incredible feats of strength speed or agility. And he was in a _very_dangerous situation at the time. Maybe it was just an adrenaline rush that had powered him through it, and the attackers hadn't expected him to fight back.

He smiled, "That makes a lot of sense actually. Thanks Arcee."

The femme waved it off, "Don't mention it. You did a good thing out there; you don't need to let it worry you."

"Guess you have a point." he admitted, rubbing the back of his head before yawning, "I'll be turning in, see ya in the morning Arcee."

"See you in the morning Jack." she replied as he walked inside. His mom was working late at the hospital tonight, but Jack decided that after the events of today, sleep was the best option.

He quickly made his way into his room, taking note of its change. It was much more bare bones now, most of the decorations having been torn down. A single mirror rested on the inside of the door that lead into his room, and his bed lay in the center, neatly made due to his mom's strict clean room policy. A single model of an emerald dragon rested on the nightstand next to his bed. It was the best piece of art he'd yet made. The dragon almost seemed alive; the green painted scales seemed to glimmer in the faint moonlight.

Jack ignored all this though, going into the bathroom connected by a door to his room, a change of clothes resting under his arm. The bathroom was fairly small with a single toilet between the sink and shower, the shower having a glass tile dividing the room and shower. The sink had a marble counter, and the walls were painted a faint blue, almost silver color. A large mirror dominated the wall above the sink, reflecting Jacks tired form as he walked in.

The teen took a quick shower, letting the stresses of the day pass away in the steam, before stepping out, a towel wrapped around his waist. He moved to get changed, when he paused, looking at the mirror. No steam clouded it due to how quick his shower was, letting him get a good look at himself.

Normally that wouldn't bother him except for a detail he noticed on his back on his left below his ribs. He moved closer to the mirror and looked over his shoulder at his back, eyes widening at what he saw. The entire area below his ribs was coated in what looked like a scaly pattern.

It wasn't actually scales, but it looked like a series of scars that resembled scales covering his skin. He ran a cautious hand over them and recoiled. His skin in that area felt dry, flakey, and bumpy. It didn't feel like human skin.

"W-what is this?" he stuttered, staring at the scale like pattern on his back. It couldn't have been a weird injury from the train, his shirt wasn't torn there, and it didn't hurt. So what was it?

Jack shook his head, "its nothing." he said, shoving the thought away and averting his gaze from the mirror. It was probably just a weird skin thing; it would go away in time. It always did.

Ignoring the weird pattern, he slipped a shirt on and went back into his room, running a hand through his wet hair. Without a second thought, he slipped under the grey and blue sheets, a common color theme for him, and shut his eyes. He thought it would take him an eternity to fall asleep.

In reality, it took him seconds.

Once he drifted off to sleep, Jack found himself in a position he knew all too well. The empty blackness that was his nightmares. A recurring event, at least once a month that he had to deal with. He hated it, no despised it, but he had also grown used to it.

The dreams were always the same, an empty black void followed by screaming and loud crashing. It didn't scare him like when he was young. But it did raise questions. Why did he always have that nightmare, was it related to something that happened in the past?

His mom didn't know, though Jack knew she tried to figure out what was wrong with him. He'd been to several therapists, and none figured out why the dream occurred. So after that, he just accepted them as a part of his life.

That being said, he braced himself for the usual night of darkness, roars, crashes, and screams. To say that when something entirely different faded into view left Jack shocked, was an understatement. His shock only grew as he made out what he was seeing.

He appeared to be in a large bowel shaped valley, gentle fields of grass blowing gently in the breeze. The occasional tree dotted the landscape, but besides that it was utterly empty. The sky was grey, covered in thick storm clouds.

A large stone city, that looked to be Roman in design, rested in the center of the valley its large white walls towering into the sky, men in steel armor walking along the battlements checking the ballistae that topped each gleaming white tower.

And a large column of Roman soldiers was marching along a dirt road that wound down into the valley to the front entrance of the wall. Their armor gleamed in the sunlight, showing that it was newly refurbished. For while the army was new and shiny, the men wore faces of veterans, scars littering their faces and arms. Most of the scars looked like they may once have been burns. It didn't take a genius to figure out what caused them.

The dream sped up, the column marching into the city. The men slowly made their way up the walls, standing atop the battlements, bows, and javelins in hand. Some of the men though had remained outside, forming thick square formations, holding long pikes that were easily up to 12 or 15 feet long. The entire army stood tense, their bodies trembling at what was to come. Jack had a theory on what that was.

And that theory was confirmed by the sound of a thousand roars screaming through the skies caused the men to look amongst each other uneasily. The roars were deep and echoing, seeming to come from everywhere at once. Jack looked at the entrance into the valley, which was also the entrance to the city.

Another roar sounded, this time it sounded closer. Much closer.

The men readied their spears, readied their bows, and readied their javelins. The crews in charge of the ballistae churned the wooden gears, slowly pulling the projectile that rested atop it back.

Finally, another roar sounded, and as if in sync, thick raindrops poured from the heavens, flattening the tall grass of the meadow and causing the ground to grow thick and muddy as the torrent of rain continued to flow. The steel armor gleamed under the occasional beam of light that pierced the thickening cloud cover.

Suddenly, one of the men atop the towers pointed at the horizon and screamed in Latin _"Advenientis!"_

Jack followed where the man was pointing, and his eyes widened. It was if a thousand gemstones filled the skies, colors ranging from ruby to sapphire to emerald to diamond colored the sky, glinting from the slightest bit of light that hit them. And as they approached, Jack made out their shapes.

_Dragons_

Well over a thousand of them, some as big as an elephant, some so large they dwarfed the massive frame of Optimus Prime. And the sound of them beating their massive wings made it seem like thunder was rolling through the Earth itself.

The men let out cries of war, cries of despair, and cries of fear. The number of dragons was astounding, Jack never imagined seeing this many. Hell, he hardly imagined he'd ever see a single one in his life.

But here they were, a fleet of dragons, winging their way to the Roman legions below.

Officers within the legions all shouted the same order,_"Arma parate!"_

_Prepare Arms._

The thick square formations that lay in front of the city walls bristled with spears, shields rising over the heads of the men while those on the outside readied their spears. Those in the middle pointed them to the sky, making it seem as though they were large red porcupines of war.

The men along the battlements in the first two rows raised their javelin throwing arms. The two behind them raised their bows to the skies, holding them at 45 degree angles, their arrows wicked sharp and barbed.

Their officers raised their swords, waiting for the dragons to draw closer. Though they were visible, they were still a good mile and a half away. Then, the dragons at the forefront of the swarm folded their wings to their bodies and fell like rocks to the floor, diving to the legions below at a breakneck pace.

_"IGNIS!"_the officers sliced down, and a hailstorm of arrows sailed forth from their bows towards the dragons that dove to the legions in front of the city. Many of them missed their mark, passing harmlessly by the dragons to impact the water soaked earth. But hundreds more did find their mark, and several dragons let out roars of pain before hitting the muddy earth gouging heaps of earth out of the ground.

Dozens more ignored their fallen comrades and spread their great wings, the wind filling them like sails on a ship. The dragons soared over the legions and opened their toothy maws. Gouts of multi colored flame, each one matching the color of the dragon, engulfed the front of the legions.

The rain prevented some of the men from catching, and their thick wide shields managed to protect many more soldiers from the flames. But not all, as dozens of men broke from the formation, flailing and screaming as the fire licked at their flesh hungrily. They fell in the mud soaked earth, the fire quickly sputtering out.

While this happened, the dragons began to glide over the formation, breathing quick blasts of fire at the men where the shield wall was weakest. Men went down, but more thrust their long pikes up at the dragons. Several of the great beasts screeched in pain, plummeting into the mass of men. They weren't dead yet, but the men swarmed over their injured forms and drew their swords. The dragons screamed and thrashed wildly, knocking the men flying. But it was like watching a beetle caught in a line of ants. Numbers were weighing them down, and the creatures died, their boiling hot blood seeping into the earth.

The men let out a cheer as the first wave of dragons, the few that remained, flew back to the swirling swarm that stayed out of the reach of the Roman bows and pikes. The victory was short lived however, as the dragons let out a mournful cry, causing every man along the battlements and blood soaked fields to look at the swarm.

Hundreds of dragons descended on the men below, the entire remaining swarm. They had angered the dragons, and unleashed their full wrath. The legions in the field readied themselves, but found it n vain. The dragons didn't even bother trying to stay out of reach. Any dragon, large or small, crashed into the formation, lashing out with fire, tooth, and claw. Men fell in droves, left in pieces, their armor torn asunder by the power of the dragons.

Some dragons fell, being killed by a lucky pike thrust or sword stroke, but it was obvious they were tearing the men apart. In a few minutes, none would be left, leaving only the men on the battlements to defend them. The men must have realized this, as Jack saw officers sprinting amongst the rows of archers, javelin men, and ballistae towers.

He vaguely wondered where the cavalry where, before he remembered a text he read. Dragons utterly terrified horse, they would freak, and their riders would lose control. It was too dangerous to use them in battle, so they were left to use infantry and ranged units. Not good news for the Romans, as the legions below were finding out.

But it was at this time a familiar command roared amongst the officers _"INGIS!" _

Thousands of arrows arched into the air, javelins following close behind. Jack followed the arch, and cold dread shivered down his spine. They were firing on their own men, where the dragons were currently slaughtering them. They would rather kill their own men to stop the dragons than risk fighting them on the battlements.

Cries of pain, human and dragon, dominated the field of battle. Jack saw a ruby dragon let out a single dying roar before collapsing on several men, its eyes slowly shutting. Several others imitated their comrade. The humans below truly panicked, running rampant amongst the raining death.

Several dragons arched their serpentine necks up at the sky and blew geysers of fire at the falling shafts of death, incinerating them. Ash fell to the ground, mixing with the mud, water, blood, and corpses that littered the ground.

The remaining dragons lowered their heads and glared at the archers. Jack saw several men throw down their weapons and flee. No one tried to stop them, instead preparing another volley. While they did that, the ballistae fired flaming shots at the dragons below.

Some missed while others found their mark, spearing the dragons. They did not kill all of them, and Jack clenched his eyes, not wanting to see anymore. But something kept him watching, even seeing the dying dragons. More ballistae fired, and some dragons reared up on their hind legs, spreading their wings defiantly, before over a dozen ballistae pierced their bodies. They screamed in agony and fell to the ground.

The ground shook as hundreds of dragons collapsed, joining their human enemies on the floor. Yet even despite these incredible kills, hundreds more dragons lived, some covered in arrows. The larger ones were the main ones who remained, their scales protecting them from the human weapons thanks to their incredible thickness.

Even from his odd view, Jack could see that some of the scales were six inches thick in some places, mainly around the body and neck. Their wings, arm pits, and insides of their elbows seemed to be their weakest points, and even then they seemed unaffected by the wooden shafts sticking out of them.

The remaining dragons roar in unanimous fury, and the battle only grew worse. Dozens of them loped towards the walls, some jumping great lengths across the ground, their wings torn and bleeding. Dozens more took to the sky, bypassing the walls entirely and entering the city.

It was here though that they found that hundreds more humans waited for them, their armor fresh and unstained. But instead of grouping together, Jack saw them waiting on the rooftops, hiding from the dragons as they landed in the streets, knocking over walls and merchant stands, leaving deep furrows in the ground from their claws.

Jack wondered what it was the humans had planned, waiting on the roofs. He didn't have to wait long to find out. The men let out a battle cry and charged across the roofs. The dragons looked up with shocked expressions. Hundreds of men jumped off the roofs, trailing long ropes with barbed spears at the end in a single hand.

Many slammed into the sides of the dragons, digging their spears deep into their sides. Jack winced at the sound of steel scraping against bone. The dragons screeched in anger and pain, but could do nothing to fight against the ropes. Jack saw large stone pillars on the roof being pushed off the edge, drawing the lines taught.

Several smaller dragons died from this, their, but the larger ones were held in place by this. They whipped their heads from side to side, spraying fire onto the buildings and incinerating several men. The remaining men charged forward and began cutting at their ankles and underbellies. Their legs gave out and the dragons hit the ground with earth shaking booms.

War cry's sounded throughout the city, followed by the pained scream of dragons. Jacks vision shifted back to the battlements, where a far bloodier battle was being fought. The dragons looked enraged by this, as if they weren't expecting the humans to put up such a fight, or their kind to die in as many numbers as they did.

They fought with renewed ferocity, men dying under their onslaught in droves. The dragons crawled along the walls, or atop the battlements. The ones atop the battlements snapped at humans, devouring some of them whole, or leaving them crippled. The ones crawling along the battlements clawed their way up the ballistae towers, breathing gouts of fire on the ballistae crews operating them.

One dragon reared its massive purple head above the edge of the tower, its purple eyes narrowed. But instead of running or screaming, the men roared defiantly at the dragon, and a few nocked arrows to their bows, pulling back and firing.

The purple dragon shook its head, like it was being bitten by gnats, not hit with steel arrows. The men readied the ballistae to fire while it pawed at the arrows stuck in its scaly hide. One of its eyes caught this though, and the dragon dug its claws into the stone, causing the masonry to crumble. It pulled itself onto the tower, its massive body dominating a good chunk of the towers top.

It brought its head down to eye level and roared, its great maw spread wide, white teeth glistening in the stormy light. A few men dropped their weapons the and there before fleeing for their lives. The remaining men drew their swords and roared themselves before they charged the dragon.

The dragon snapped at several of them, leaving bloody stumps in their place. The remaining men jumped onto the dragon, slashing at its face and eyes, leaving faint gashes and cuts. A roar of fury sounded from the dragon, who shook his head madly, trying to rid itself of the humans that were crawling along its head and neck.

While it was distracted, a human grabbed hold of the ballistae and aimed it at the dragon. The dragon had time to only look down at the gunner, a look of shock on its face. Then the weapon fired with a metallic _twang, _sinking deep into its chest.

The dragon reared back, screeching to the heavens before it and the men clinging to it, fell off the tower, fire spewing from its mouth, lighting sections of the battlement a flame. It crashed into a smaller pink dragon, and the two crashed to the ground, the smaller dragon pinned to the ground by its larger comrade.

It was at this point that the dream, at least Jack hoped to god it was a dream, sped up, the combat a flurry of unrecognizable motions. The rain stopped, but the clouds seemed to become thick with ash, the city coated in it. Blood ran down the walls and through the streets, buildings fell, towers were torn apart, and both men and dragon died in droves, the combat sounding ferocious and loud all the while.

And suddenly, silence. Complete and utter silence. Not a sound was heard, and a sickening realization came over Jack. Everyone was dead, both sides had killed themselves, the battle was a draw. The city was coated in blood and ash, the occasional body of a dragon dotting the city.

As if to make this situation worse, Jack suddenly found himself in the center of an ash covered street. He looked down at his body and saw he was himself, normal clothes and body. The teen looked back up and started down the street, a sickening feeling growing in his stomach.

Ash puffed up with each step, and his head twisted from side to side, looking over the destruction. He saw Roman Legionnaires, or really their bodies, lining the side of the street. Some were in pieces, their armor torn apart, others were burnt to a crisp, and some were intact, but their bodies were twisted into disturbing positions.

If that wasn't bad enough, Jack came to a stop as he came across a destroyed building. A golden dragon lay in the remains of the building, a large shattered pillar lying across its back. The golden orb that was its eye stared unblinkingly at the sky.

Jack fell to his knees next to the once majestic beast, putting a hand on its scaly snout. It felt rough and pebbly, the edges of the scales feeling smooth and soft. Jack barely registered it though, a single thought dominating his mind.

"Why?" he whispered, "Why all this death and destruction? What did you gain?"

He didn't expect a response, **"We believed that in this war, we would ensure our species survival." **

Jack whirled around and his eyes went wide. A massive white dragon sat in front of him, its bat like wings folded behind him. His tail was wrapped around his legs, and upon closer inspection Jack saw his scales were torn and scarred. This was an old dragon, but it was a _dragon!_

He gulped back his fear, stepping away from the huge dragon. The dragon dwarfed even Optimus! And it seemed amused by his action, a low rumbling coughing sound coming up from its thickly muscled chest.

**"Do not be afraid hatchling, I mean you know harm." **he assured him, **"I am known as Farseer by your kind."**

Jack remained tense, "Okay…" he said unsure of himself.

"I need to lay off the caffeine." he muttered.

**"Rest assured this is not a hallucination.**" Farseer rumbled, **"I am the dragon set with the responsibility of finding the Ambassador, and educating him. This grants me a connection with the Ambassador, allowing me to speak to him in his dreams."**

It took Jack a minute for that to sink in, "Hold on, you speak to the Ambassador? But if that's true and you're here…" he froze as the full implication of what that meant sank in.

Jack looked up at Farseer, who bared his fangs in what seemed to be a dragon equivalent of a grin, **"Yes, you are the next Ambassador."**

Jacks mind was racing a mile a minute. He was the Ambassador? That wasn't possible; he was just a kid from a small town in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing special about him; he was just your run of the mill teenager.

He voiced his complaints, "I-I can't be the Ambassador, I'm just a normal kid."

Farseer lowered his huge head, twisting his head to look at him with a single silver white eye, **"You have a heart of fire hatchling, and since the day you were born you have fought. Few Ambassadors were still born, you are among them. And yet you refused to pass into the void as an infant. That is why you became the next Ambassador. You died but your spirit did not."**

"It was a fluke, I was just lucky, that's all!" he protested, backing away from Farseer.

The dragon narrowed his eye and his head snaked back up, **"I have found every Ambassador for the past thousand years, and never once have I been wrong. Whether you accept it or not, you are the next Ambassador, and have come of age. Eventually, you will realize and accept this."**

Jack was confused, his mind still racing. He couldn't be the Ambassador, he wasn't the Ambassador. This was just a dream, a really weird bad dream. Farseer suddenly stood on his hind legs and roared furiously, causing Jack to flinch. He landed back down, and the ground shook.

**"You cannot deny that which is expected of you! You will realize you potential, and when you do I will appear. I have watched you grow for years, you do not remember because you were but a babe, but I am what you first saw. You are Dragon and Human whether you like it!" **he slammed his fore paws on the ground, shaking it more, while thrashing his muscled tale back and forth. Jack stumbled back barely able to keep his balance.

He hit the ground, and saw his reflection in the blood that pooled out from the dead dragon. Fear struck him, his skin was scaled, his eyes reptilian, and his teeth pointed. He scrambled away from the reflection, Farseer still bellowing angrily.

A piece of rubble stopped him and he brought his shaking hands up, seeing scales lining them, claws replacing his fingernails. He started panicking at this, clenching his hands tight. This wasn't happening, couldn't be happening.

**"Look around you Ambassador!" **Farseer roared, spreading his ancient and torn wings wide, **"Should you not accept your destiny, this is the fate that awaits human and dragon! Realize your place, wake up!"**

Jack brought his knees to his chest, covering his ears, wanting it all to end. This was just a dream. Just a dream.

**"Wake up!"**

**"Wake up!"**

"Wake up! Jack wake up!"

Jacks eyes shot open and he shot straight up in bed, panting heavily, his forehead coated in sweat. His chest heaved, and he swallowed before panting again. His mom sat on his bed in front of him, concern on her face. The nightmare must have been particularly bad; she had stopped checking on him years ago.

The two were silent, June letting Jack catch his breath. Eventually his panting lessoned and he looked at her, "Nightmare?"She asked.

He nodded, "Same one as before?"

Jack blinked a few times, "I… I don't remember." he admitted. The entire dream was gray and fuzzy; he could barely remember what had happened. It was a little disconcerting, but really he wasn't sure if he'd want to remember it. If it woke him up it must have been really bad; a nightmare hadn't woke him up since he was ten.

"You going to be okay?" June wore worried expression on her face.

He nodded, "I'll be fine. Sorry I bothered you."

His mom smiled and hugged him, "I'm your mother Jack. It's my job to worry over you." she reminded him.

Standing up, she kissed his forehead before exiting, stopping at the door, "If you have any more trouble sleeping, let me know, okay?"

"I will mom." he promised.

Smiling, the woman left the room, leaving the boy to his thoughts. He wasn't entirely lying to her, he didn't remember most of the dream. But he remembered why he woke up screaming. He just couldn't bring himself to tell her that he might be the Ambassador. The teen still didn't believe it, but he knew one thing for certain.

No one could know, no one.

There was no telling how they'd react, but he had a feeling they'd never treat him the same. He didn't want that, he wanted to be treated like everyone else, not like some sort of messiah because of a position he may or may not have been born with.

Jack sighed and lay back down on the pillow, "Just sleep it off Darby. It was just a nightmare."

That should have comforted him. It didn't.

Farseer's eyes opened to see the damp darkness of the cave he was taking residence in. The great white dragon opened his jaws, yawning and stretching, unfurling his tail and wings. He should have expected such a reaction from the Ambassador. Humanity had nearly forgotten about the dragons, the idea that even one could be the figure long since dead would be difficult to accept.

The dragon stretched his back, digging his claws into the ground. He shook his large head and slowly emerged from the cave into the moonlight, spreading his worn wings. The boy, Jack, his name was Jack, had a great fire in his heart. When he accepted his destiny he would make a fine Ambassador, with the proper training of course.

But Farseer would need to change his tactics to convince the boy. He let out a frustrated sigh, smoke rising from his nostrils. A thousand years of tactics was not easy to change. But if his race was to return to glory, it would be necessary.

Whatever the cost, the Ambassador would accept his position. Farseer was sure of it.

**A/N: Would you believe I wrote this entire chapter in a car on a drive to and from my grandfathers house? Praise to laptops my friends! Anyway, this chapter served a two fold purpose. One, I wanted to try my hand at a large scale fight scene. How'd I do? And two, I decided to fill in the gap a little between Convoy and Deus Ex Machina. After that we got Speed Metal, followed by I believe Predatory. And of course, I am mixing up the order a little of the episodes. Anyway, what'd you guys think of the chapter? Good, bad, meh? Let me know in the reviews, and PM me with questions and ideas. I will happily answer any that concern the lore of the dragons in this story too. To my guest reviewers though, I say this. Stop asking questions, I can't answer them, so either make a profile so I can, or just provide critique. It drives me insane. Anyway, hope you liked the chapter. Merry Christmas! **


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Night at the Museum

The day following Jacks nightmare, at least he still considered it one, was the day of a field trip at school to the Natural History Museum. It was a trip he had been looking forward to, but now he wasn't so sure anymore, not after that little dream.

Regardless though, he, Raf, and Miko had been marched onto the bus with everyone else and were currently on their way towards the museum. Jack had the window seat (it was agreed on the way back that he would give it to Raf) and Raf had his laptop out, busily typing away on the computer while Miko was messing with her phone.

Jack stared out the window, looking at the desert landscape as it sped by. No matter how hard he tried to forget it, the dream kept drifting back to him. What if it wasn't a dream, what if the dragon, Farseer, was real and had been telling the truth? What if he really was the Ambassador?

A frown crossed his face, that was silly. He wasn't the Ambassador, he was a perfectly normal human. Or as normal as a teen friends with sentient robotic organisms from the planet cybertron could be anyway. But that being said, he wasn't the Ambassador, that he was sure of.

'_And if you keep thinking it, maybe it'll be true.'_ A part of him thought sarcastically. One could hope.

"Jack! Hello, earth to Jack!" Miko yelled, causing Jack to jump in his seat.

"Miko, what?" he demanded, ignoring her giggles.

"I've been trying to get your attention for like, the past ten minutes!" she frowned, "You were just staring at the window with a weird look on your face."

He blinked, "I was?"

"You looked about ready to jump out the window." Raf noted, never looking up from his laptop.

Jack scratched his head a little embarrassed, "Sorry guys, just sorta lost in thought."

"Watcha thinking about?" Miko asked, interest peaked. It was a 45 minute drive to the museum, she needed _something_to keep her entertained. Jack happened to be that current source, unfortunately for him.

That did not mean though that he was going to just out and tell Miko about his dream. He was still afraid of how he'd be treated if anyone knew and it turned out to be true. So of course, he decided to lie.

"Nothing important Miko. Just daydreaming." he lied rather poorly.

Miko raised a brow and crossed her arm's, unconvinced, "Uh huh, right. I've seen daydreaming Jack, I do daydreaming in class all the time. What you were doing, is not daydreaming."

She poked him in the chest, "So spill." she ordered.

Jack gulped and began searching his thoughts for a viable excuse when…

"Yow!" the girl yelped rubbing her head. She brought her hand forward to see the remains of a spit ball in her hand.

Scowling, Miko turned to look down the aisle, "Vince!" she yelled, glaring at the red headed bully who was about four rows up.

Vince snorted and laughed as Miko stood up from her seat, only for a bump on the bus to make her legs give out and she fell back in her seat, "What's the matter Nakadai? Too chicken to come up here!?"

"Ugh!" she snarled, crossing her arms, "He better run, cause when I get my hands on him…"

Jack chuckled as Miko spent the rest of the bus ride plotting her revenge against Vince. A little while later the Bus pulled into a large parking lot that was filled with several cars. The museum sat in the middle of the lot. It was a large circular building, and had a large glass pane front on it. The bus came to a stop and began letting students off.

Raf, Miko, and Jack all filed off, Miko still glaring daggers at Vince, who was happily ignorant of the wrath he'd unleashed. A moment later though, he found a bottle of water dunked on his head as Miko passed by him.

"What the!? Nakadai! You're dead!" he threatened. The girl just stuck her tongue out at him as the students were lead into the museum.

Their guide around the museum was of course, Mrs. Maneevone, who lead the students through the museum entrance, making sure they stayed out of trouble for the most part. Jack noticed that Miko kept making gestures at Vince, making the red head turned red as his hair with anger.

"Miko," he warned, putting a hand on her shoulder, "Is that _really _a good idea?"

She giggled, "Oh lighten up Jack, what's the worst that could happen?" and resumed gesturing rudely at the bully.

Jack sighed and returned his attention to Maneevone as she lead them into the museums most famous exhibit, "And this class, is the famous Jasper dragon, the archeological find that put our town on the map."

The class looked up in wonder at the massive skeletal dragon. It stood on top of a large jutting rock, its wings spread wide and its maw wide open as if it were still trying to breathe fire, even in death. Oddly enough, a skeletal claw rested on top of a large golden orb about as tall as Jack was, and just as wide.

"What's the orb?" one of the students asked.

"No one knows for certain," Maneevone said, "Many theories speculate that it was part of this dragons stash, a small pile of precious or rare valuables. All dragons kept one, and they varied in size from dragon to dragon, be they male or female. No one knows why they did it, though many theories exist. Some believe it was based on instinct, some believe it was to attract a mate, and still others believe that being sentient creatures, the dragons simply collected them as a 'hobby'."

As Mannevone continued her lecture, Jack felt a cramp in his side, causing him to wince and clench his eyes. His skin felt like it was on fire, like something was pressing against his ribs. Realizing no one would miss him, as they were all paying attention to Mrs. Mannevone, Jack broke off from the group and made his way to the bathroom.

He opened the door to reveal a small clean restroom with a handful of stalls and urinals to the right and a large mirror to his left over some porcelain sinks. Thankfully, the bathroom was abandoned, meaning that Jack didn't have to worry about any visitors to the museum seeing him.

Gripping the sides of the sink Jack took in a few breaths as his body began to tremble, the fiery pain in his side extending up his ribs onto his back. Jack gripped the hem of his shirt and lifted up to see what in the pit was causing him so much pain. He almost immediately wished he hadn't.

The odd scale like pattern he'd seen on his side the other day had changed. The pattern stretched up from his back onto his side and was gradually creeping onto his chest. Turning around, Jack's breath hitched in his breath at the site of his back. The scale pattern there wasn't a pattern anymore. Actual scales burst from his skin, their silvery edge shining in the light.

Jack put a shaky hand to them, and almost recoiled. The scales were smooth and felt almost like steel, yet felt pliable at the same time. They felt incredibly sensitive whenever he touched them, and he shuddered as he ran a finger over them. He applied a little more pressure and found that the sensitivity died down and they seemed to harden, becoming more armor like.

"God no… that dream…" he whimpered, his hand shaking. There was no way there was a grain of truth to it. It was just an odd dream, but… the scales, they felt so real, they had to be related to the dream.

"Forget," he said, pulling his shirt down and moving to the door, "Just forget it. You're just hallucinating Jack, that's all."

Shaking it off, Jack opened the bathroom door…only for Miko to slam into him from the side, both of them falling to the ground.

The teen shook his head, "Miko!?" he yelped, looking at the girl as they both stood, "What are you-"

"No time to talk," she interrupted, brushing herself off frantically, "Vince wants my head, got to run!"

Speak of the devil, Vince twisted around the corner, several spitballs plastered against his face, "Nakadai!" he yelled, sprinting towards them.

"Oh scrap!" Miko turned to run when…

"What is going on here!?" Maneevone demanded from the other end of the hall.

Vince and Miko came to a speeding halt at the sight of their teacher, worried expressions on their faces, while Jack gulped, "Well!?"

The three tried explaining themselves rather poorly before Maneevone cut them off, "That's enough of that. All three of you, detention when we get back to school."

Miko and Vince groaned while Jack went pale, "W-wait, Mrs. Maneevone, I wasn't a part of this. I just was leaving the bathroom-"

"And you left the group without telling anyone." Maneevone interrupted, "So again, detention."

"B-b-but!"

"De-ten-tion." she repeated, emphasizing the syllables, "Am I clear."

His shoulders slumped, "Yes ma'am."

She nodded, "Good. I'll see all three of you after school." and she promptly walked back down the hall to meet up with the rest of the group.

Once she was gone, "Well that could have been worse," Miko said cheerfully.

Jack glared at her before storming off. He hadn't had detention since the third grade. He still remembered that, when his mother had come in to pick him up from the principals after getting in a fight with Vince. Over what he couldn't remember, just that it must have been pretty important to him. Jack didn't fight unless otherwise.

Either way though, the next few hours were going to suck…

* * *

Yep. They sucked.

Jack drummed his fingers against the desk rather bored as he watched the clock tick down minute by minute. He, Miko, and Vince were supposed to stay until 5 PM. But of course, Vince never showed, and at about 3, Miko skipped out, leaving to go out with Bulkhead. Leaving Jack alone while the V.P sat at the front desk reading a novel of unknown origin.

For two hours and fifty five minutes Jack had sat in the room, leaving him with five minutes left until he achieved freedom and could go to base. The clock continued to tick by, passing the twelve and signaling only four minutes till he was free.

His eye twitched and his drumming grew a little faster and more frantic. The dull sound reverberated through the room…until it was suddenly replaced by the sound of clacking.

The teen froze and looked down at his hand. His eyes bulged from their sockets at the sight of his right hand. It looked completely normal except for two features. One, a scale like pattern covered his entire hand. And two, his nails had elongated and curved a good two inches, resembling…claws.

His pulse shot through the roof and Jack immediately clenched his fist tight, bringing it to his chest and shoving it under his arm. He took a few deep breaths and tried to calm himself. But how could he!? He had _claws_! _Claws!_

'_Okay Jack, okay…' _he thought silently, _'It's nothing, you were just seeing things…again. Calm down, take a deep breath. If you look again, it'll be back to normal…'_

Following his own advice, Jack filled his lungs and let his chest expand, before exhaling and letting them shrink down. He repeated this process several times, feeling his pulse slowly drop, and the anxiety in his chest slowly fade.

Confident that he was calm and that the claws he saw were gone, Jack slowly pulled his hand out from under his arm and let out a sigh of relief. There were no scales or claws. Only a pale human hand.

A pale human hand that was shaking.

Jack balled his fist and propped his head on his other arm, "Son of a…" he let out a sigh, "I need to get more sleep." he muttered. Maybe if he went to bed sooner the hallucinations would go away.

Maybe.

Looking back up, Jack saw that it was five on the dot. It was as if a switch were thrown, and the teen nearly immediately forgot about the issue that had just occupied his mind moments ago. Instead, he bounded up from his chair, grabbed his backpack, and sprinted for the door.

The V.P looked up from his book in time to see quite the spectacle that Jack was completely unaware of. The teen, in his excitement, vaulted over five chairs, rolled forward, and sprung up like a weed at the door, skidding out and sprinting down the hall.

He just snorted and went back to his book, "Kid would've made a hell of an athlete," he muttered.

The doors were flung open and Jack bounded down the stairs in utter bliss. His happiness only went up when he saw the deep blue and pink motorcycle parked in the front of the parking lot, waiting for him.

Barely missing a beat, Jack ran up next to Arcee and jumped onto her seat, quickly slipping his helmet on. Arcee's engine roared to life, hiding her chuckle as the pair backed out of the parking spot.

"In a good mood today Jack?" she asked jokingly.

The teen grinned, "Well, detention sucked, but it's over now. So yeah, I am in a good mood."

The bikes engine screamed as the two shot down the road, passing through an intersection and quickly leaving Jasper behind them. One of Arcee's mirror's twisted to look directly at Jack.

"Miko was sparse on details, go figure. Why were you in detention? I thought only rule breakers or 'bullys' were sent there?" she asked.

Jack sighed, his good mood deflating slightly, "I got caught up in a chase between Miko and Vince. Teacher decided to send us all to detention instead of just those two. Lot of good that did."

Arcee chuckled, "Ironic that everyone but you ignored that punishment, don't you think?" she mused.

"I don't think it's that ironic." Jack muttered. He was royally peeved over being dragged into Miko's mess, and spending three hours in detention was not something he was going to forgive her for anytime soon.

As soon as he got back to base, oh he would give her a piece of his mind. That was a given.

But when the two pulled into base, he was surprised to see Miko and Bulkhead exiting a ground bridge. Then he felt his blood start to boil with rage. So not only had she gotten him into detention, left him to go to base, but she had the nerve to go on a mission too! That stupid little human-

'_Where did _that_ come from!?' _Jack thought, shaking his head before dismounting Arcee. He could be aggressive at times, but that… it was down near Decepticon.

_'Shake it off Darby, shake it off,' _he ordered himself. Once he calmed down, he was able to focus more on what Ratchet and the others were talking about during his mental wrestling.

"Ratchet, you need to check this out." Bulkhead rumbled, holding his charge out on a servo, "Miko, show him the picture."

The girl took out her phone and showed something to the large red and white medic rather proudly.

Ratchet narrowed his optics for a moment, "That…looks like an Energon Harvester…" he murmured.

"Optimus!" he called, looking to the massive blue and red Prime, "We have found something!"

Footsteps thundering across the floor, Optimus approached the small foreign exchange student while Jack made his way up the steps and sat on the couch next to Raf, scowling. The young boy looked at his older friend apologetically.

"Sorry about detention," he whispered.

Jack closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "It's…no big deal." he muttered, "Not your fault anyway."

He pointed at Ratchet, "Let's just focus on this for now, k?" he asked.

Raf nodded and both boys returned their attention to Optimus and Ratchet. The former leaning down slightly and looking at Miko's picture.

"It is indeed an Energon Harvester," he confirmed, "A powerful tool created by the ancients to remove raw Energon from any source."

Raf cocked a brow, "Greek Dragon's knew Autobots?"

Jack looked to Raf curiously, and had to wonder. Exactly what was on the picture. The preteen saw his questioning look raised a finger to his lips. Explanations would come, he just had to wait.

"No," Optimus shook his head, "The ancients often used the art of a civilization to conceal messages. This fresco was likely a sign post indicating a Harvesters location hidden somewhere on this planet."

A frown creased Jacks features as a frightening realization hit him, "Uh…Optimus?" he asked. The Prime turned to him.

"If the Harvester removes Energon from anything and you all have Energon pumping inside you…"

"In Decepticon hands, the Harvester would be a devastating weapon…" Optimus finished. Jack gulped while Miko beamed happily.

"See! You were a genius to total that painting!" Miko praised her large friend.

Arcee put a servo on her hip, "Miko's not wrong, how can the 'Cons find the Harvester without the fresco?"

"With high speed internet," Raf answered, busily typing on his computer. All eyes and optics turned back to the computer genius.

"If you do an image search for Greek Dragon, and Golden Orb, this pops up. We were just here today." He turned his laptop around for all to see and Jack inwardly groaned. It was a picture of the dragon skeleton from the museum. Dragons were following him everywhere today, weren't they?

Arcee looked up at Optimus, "That the real deal?"

Optimus didn't even hesitate, "Contact Agent Fowler," he ordered.

Ratchet nodded and quickly typed on the terminal. While he did that, Miko walked over to the group and frowned, "How did the Harvester get all the way in Jasper if it used to be in Greece?" she asked.

"Probably carried here," Jack shrugged, "Dragons sometimes stole loot from each other to add to their own stash. The Harvester probably just got passed around until it wound up here."

"Convenient," Miko muttered, right as Agent Fowlers face popped up on screen. Or rather, his picture.

A recorded message accompanied it,_ "You've reached Special Agent William Fowler; I'm currently on an intensive training retreat and unavailable until Tuesday."_

"I hate talking to machines," Ratchet sneered, unaware of the great irony.

"Now what?" Jack asked. Fowler was their best chance of getting the Harvester, without him…

Optimus frowned, "Without Agent Fowler's direct aid, we will have to confiscate the Harvester on our own."

Jack did not like the sound of that. At all.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" he started, waving his hands back and forth, "Confiscate!? As in steal museum property!?" he couldn't believe what he was hearing!

"That sounds…illegal." Raf added.

The bots and humans looked to Optimus, who kept a neutral look on his faceplate, "I do not wish to break human law, but once the Decepticons learn of the Harvester's location, they will not hesitate to obtain it by any means necessary," Optimus explained, his faceplate darkening.

"We must act covertly." he added.

"Uh, okay, no offense Optimus," Jack rubbed his temples, "But covertly and giant robots don't really go together. Museums are public, and they have guards, and security cameras!"

"No problem!" Miko yelled happily, "We're small enough to sneak in, and we're not a government secret!"

Jack scowled and leaned over to Raf, "How many energy drinks has she had?"

"Seven."

His eye twitching again, Jack took a few more deep breaths while Bulkhead talked to Miko, "I'm not sure that's wise Miko…" he said.

"But it may be our best option Bulkhead," Optimus pointed out, "The longer we debate, the more time we give the Decepticons."

The shocks continued. Jack looked at Optimus dumbfounded. They couldn't seriously be considering this, could they!?

"So what's the plan?" Arcee asked.

Oh good God they were!

"We will Ground Bridge just outside the museum," Optimus explained, "and then we will be on our guard for any Decepticons that may infiltrate the museum."

Jack hung his head and sighed, Raf looking at him sympathetically. Well, if he had to be a felon, might as well be useful. He straightened back up and stood, "Then we ground bridge inside the museum, and grab the Harvester."

Easy, right?

* * *

_'I can't believe this is our plan.' _Jack thought to himself. The trio had bridged to the museum and snuck in through the back. Rather quickly, they had found a large cart with a scissor lift trailer attached to the back.

They had 'borrowed' the car and had reached the edge of the main lobby… were the large skeletal dragon stood wings spread, still challenging its long dead opponent.

The walkie talkie that Miko had brought with them sparked to life, _"Jack, Miko, Rafael,_" Optimus' baritone voice boomed over the comm. "_I have a clear view of you. Once you secure the harvester, I will contact Ratchet and bridge you back to bridge."_

_"Since you bypassed all points of normal entry, and thanks to my viral program, you won't need to worry about setting off the alarm." _Ratchet added, _"But _please _take care to avoid security guards."_

"Right, got it." Jack whispered, and looked out the lobby. He saw a large red and blue semi, Optimus, flash his lights. That was the all clear.

Repositioning the cart and lift under the security camera after a six point turn, Miko got atop the lift. With but a silent whir, the lift slowly raised her up to the device. Pulling out her phone, Miko looked through the camera for an accurate angle, took a picture, then placed her phone over the camera. It wouldn't last, but hopefully it would by them time.

Once that was done, Jack had Raf lower the lift and they whirred on over to the dragon and the Harvester. Miko and Jack hopped out of the cart and moved the chain rope away from the exhibit. Raf backed the cart up, and the two teens got up behind the Harvester. Gritting their teeth, they heaved against its smooth metal edge, and shoved it onto the cart.

At the same time there was a crack, and the three looked to see Optimus holding a _missile_ in his arms, and that the missile had cracked one of the lobby windows. Jack gulped, that was a little too close for comfort.

Optimus tossed the rocket aside and ran forward, engaging a duo of cons. He managed to hold his own fairly well, but one of them, a bright red con, stabbed him in the neck. The great Prime's optics shuttered close from the stress, knocked out cold.

"The cons…" Raf said grimly.

Jack felt anger seep into his system and his grip on the wheel tightened, "And they got Optimus."

"Where are the others!?" Miko asked with worry.

"They might be dealing with other cons." Jack growled, "The best way to help them now is to get this thing out of here."

Brave words…except the alarm blared when the red con was knocked through the glass lobby. Jack covered his ears, the shrill alarm nearly overwhelming him. Ignoring the disoriented feeling he was getting, he slammed his foot on the gas pedal.

"Time to make our exit!" Miko yelled.

Obviously.

The three quickly zoomed down the halls, trying to find their way out…when the entire facility shook, making the cart suddenly twist on its side. Miko was sent sprawling across the room, while Jack landed face first on the floor, and Raf landed on his knees right under the cart.

Jack shook off the pain that he felt in his nose, and looked back to Raf, seeing the cart about to pin him down. Grabbing his friends arm, Jack yanked him free as the bright orange cart hit the floor with a crash and the Energon Harvester went rolling along the ground towards a large garage door.

"The Harvester!" he yelled, and started towards it…when the door was torn open, revealing a massive con covered in deep blue armor with a faceplate covered in glass. Soundwave, the con communications specialist.

Jack immediately scrambled back, remembering the last encounter he and the others had had with the con and his tentacles. Luckily, the con ignored him, his large angular head focusing on the orb. A single tentacle snaked out and gripped the orb, dragging it away from Jack.

"No!" He jumped for the Harvester, but was too late. The con was already standing and transformed into a large predator drone. His turbine whirled to life, and he shot off into the night, streaming smoke behind him.

Cursing at their luck, Jack looked to the others. Raf looked fine, but Miko…where was Miko?

"Raf, where's Miko?" Jack asked, remembering how far she had been sent flying. She couldn't be… no, that couldn't be.

The young boy shook his head, "I don't…"

"Hey!" a gruff voice yelled. The two looked to see two security guards, one holding a struggling Miko, running towards them.

Jack felt some of his pent up rage start to leak into his system, and a growl escaped his throat. He stood in front of Raf, clenching his fists, "Raf, go to the bots. I'll get Miko."

"But-"

"GO!" Jack ordered.

Raf scrambled away and down the hall, leaving Jack to handle the guards. The one not holding Miko ran towards him, but unfortunately for him, Jack was running on instinct.

"Look, I don-" Jack snarled and lunged forward, rolling under the cop, much to his shock.

The guard twisted around to face Jack in time to receive a hit across the face, knocking him to the ground. Jack tensed, ready to finish the guard off, when he felt a sharp pain in his entire right side, and collapsed to the floor in agony. He clutched at his arm and ribs, moaning in pain while the guard he attacked got to his feet.

"The hell was that all about?" he asked, feeling some blood dripping from his cheek.

The other guard shrugged, "Don't know, don't care. Get the kid and bring him into the room with the girl." he ordered.

Nodding, the guard hefted Jack to his feet, causing more pain to lance up his side, "Come on kid," he said, "Time for you to have a nice long chat."

* * *

Over and over again Jack inwardly screamed at himself for making a bad situation worse. He wasn't sure why he had attacked the guard, but something in him _screamed _to take the guard down. Some sort of territorial instinct.

Add to that the pain he had felt, which had died down considerably, and Jack was in a less than pleasant mood. The room he and Miko were locked in (he himself was handcuffed to the table) was a small bare room with a single table and several chairs. Standard interrogation material.

Not that Jack cared, he was far more focused on the pain in his side. It was no longer the fiery pain that lanced up his ribs and arm. Now it was more an intense itching sensation. All he wanted to do was tear his shirt off and scratch himself until it went away. But for a variety of reasons, that wouldn't work.

"Well…this is boring," Miko noted, "Worse than detention."

Jack growled at her, glaring with one eye, "You didn't even sit through the whole thing."

"It was boring." she shrugged.

"So!?" Jack demanded, sitting up in his chair, "It's not supposed to be entertaining! If you had just left Vince alone, you never would have wound up in detention and dragged me along with you!"

Miko backed away from him as if he frightened her, which made Jack raise a brow. He'd yelled at Miko before, albeit not as harsh as this, so what made this any different.

"Uh, dude…what's up with your skin and eyes?" she squeaked.

"My…" Jack looked at the stainless steel table and nearly fell out of his chair. His entire face was covered in that scaly pattern, which was fading fast, and his eyes were slit.

His hands flew to his face, and his entire face felt dry and flakey, _'Oh god…no, not this, not now, not around her!' _he begged silently.

"Jack… what's going on?" Miko asked, still keeping a fair distance away from him.

Said teen covered his face with his hands and rested his head on the table, "I don't know. Things like this have been happening since the train incident." he admitted, before looking up at her, "I don't know why I am like this," a total lie, "but please, don't tell the others Miko." he begged her.

She nodded, "R-right…"

"I mean it!" Jack growled, standing up, "Don't tell _anyone_! Not Raf, not your host parents, and especially Bulkhead, ok!?"

"Dude, ok, I got it." Miko said, motioning for him to calm down, "I might be a blabber mouth, but I can keep a secret."

"Are you sure?" Jack asked, glaring at her suspiciously. This wasn't something he wanted _anyone _to know. And Miko looked like the last person to keep that secret.

The pigtail wearing girl smiled and patted his back, "Positive. Just keep that mug of yours hidden when the coppers come back. I'll handle them."

Jacks gaze softened, "Thanks…Miko. That means a lot."

She waved a dismissive hand, "Eh, don't mention it scales." the door shifted and Jack rested his head back on the table as one of the guards entered.

"Ok kids," he sighed, "If this was some sort of prank….you need to know the authorities are on their way. It'd go a _whole _lot easier if you told me about what happened to the sphere, and why he attacked my partner."

A pang of guilt passed through Jacks system while Miko just smiled innocently, "We were just researching our history report and lost track of time!" she claimed, "Got locked in after closing!"

The guard raised a brow, and leaned on the table, "So what's your report about?" he asked, "I'd _love _to know."

Several hours later, both the guard and Jack would come to regret those words as Miko proceeded to completely falsify a report on Dragons and their influence on human culture, as well as just ancient human culture in general.

After three hours, both Jack and the guard just wanted her to _shut up!_

"And of course there's the whole principle of Deus Ex Machina," she rambled, "Uh, god from the machine."

The guard looked at her sleepily while Jack struggled to stay awake himself.

"It's that part in the Greek story where some character shows up out of the blue to make everything right!" she said triumphantly.

The guard yawned, "That so young lady?" he muttered, before grinning smugly, "Well, I'm sure the police will want to hear _all _about your history report."

Jack and Miko both inwardly cursed as a loud insistent knocking pounded on the door, and Agent Fowler entered the door, flashing his badge, "Special Agent William Fowler," he introduced, "The stolen property has been located and restored to the museum premises."

Looking up at the screen (or peeking in Jacks case, the scales hadn't faded) everyone was surprised to see the sphere resting right where it belonged under the dragon skeleton!

Fowler walked up to the two and lifted them out of their chairs by their arms. Jack faked rubbing a hand over his face from sleep to hide his face.

"The kids come with me." he said, leading them out of the room, before pulling something out of his pocket, "You dropped your cellphone."

He held out her pink phone to her, making her squeal with delight, "Found in on the floor….right next to your _history _report." he finished, leading them out into the moonlight, where they're transportation waited.

Arcee and Bulkhead waited in the parking lot, making Miko gasp, and Jack to let out a sigh of relief, "Off ya go," Fowler, said, letting them run towards their partners.

Jack hurriedly put his helmet on, thankful that it hid so much of his face. Arcee flicked a mirror to him, "So, how'd it go?"

He eyed her suspiciously as they pulled out of the parking lot, "Let me put it like this. Miko makes up the most boring fake history reports ever."

Arcee chuckled as they raced to his house, "Who'd of thought?"

* * *

Once Arcee dropped him off at home and returned to base, Jack let his façade drop and stumbled into the house, tearing his helmed off and throwing it into the living room. He didn't care where it landed, he just had to get his damn shirt off!

The entire right side of his body was itching against his shirt and was driving him insane! Grabbing at the fabric, Jack staggered into the bathroom, literally tearing the cloth off himself with ease. The shredded pieces of clothing hit the tumbled to the floor, and Jack rested his hands on the bathroom sink, letting out a happy sigh as the itchiness faded in the cool air of the bathroom.

Swallowing and then panting again, Jack looked up and froze, staring at his reflection in in horror.

With his shirt off, he could see _exactly _what had been happening.

"W-what the frag is this...?" he murmured in shock.

His entire right side was covered in that hard scaled pattern. It seemed to have extended from his right hip now, and up over his chest and back, even his nipple on that side had vanished, which he found kind of embarrassing. The scales had also started to creep up his shoulder and neck, while trailing down his arm and stopping right at the edge of the his elbow.

Since they'd first started to appear, they'd grown darker. They were no longer a silvery color like they had been. Instead, they ones on his back had grown a deep blue and silver, while the ones on his chest were a lighter shade of the shame color.

But what also freaked him out were his eyes. They were still slitted, like a cat's eyes...or...

_A Dragon…_

He blinked and shook his head, that was ridiculous...he couldn't be turning into a dragon...right?

But then, why had he been having the dreams? It all had to mean something, and that old Dragon...he'd called him...

Ambassador...

No...no...NO! This was not happening. This was not HAPPENING!

He looked down at his hands and felt even more fear pump into his system. The scale like pattern returned to his hands, and his nails had lengthened into thick claws again.

Jack trembled at the sight of them, "This is not happening..." he whimpered, and put his face in his hands, half expecting to accidently claw his own face off.

Suddenly there was a knock on the bathroom door and he spun round as the door opened up…and his mother walked in.

"Jack? Honey? Are you ok I-" June froze as she stared wide-eyed at her son, his draconic traits on full display.

Jack looked from his body to his mother, "M-Mom? What's happening?" his voice was strained, as if he was barely holding back tears, and June suspected he probably was.

The anguish and panic in his voice tore at her heart making her flinch, and in turn Jack flinch.  
_  
'My poor baby...Jack...Oh god...I knew this day would come but...Oh god...'_, She remembered the warning the old dragon had given her when he'd landed in their back yard 16 years ago, that she must never tell him of his destiny or his true heritage before his powers manifested, or it could corrupt him.

_'Well, if this isn't manifestation, I don't know what is._' she thought bitterly.

_'Guess there's no point in putting it off any longer June, you've known this was coming for 16 years...time to bite the bullet...'_

"Jack...honey..." she swallowed thickly, trying to moisten her suddenly dry throat as she looked at her terrified son.

"We need to talk..."

**A/N: Sorry I didn't get this out on Sunday like I promised folks, but I had a celebration of life party to attend for my great grandfather who recently passed away to attend, then I had an AP Econ test to study for, so… yeah, sorry. Anyway, I figured that this would be a good chapter to get a little development for Miko in there, as well as show off what is happening to Jack. But now, this leaves me with a question for you, the viewer. Two, actually. Should I update this or Dark of the Night next, AND who should be the next to find out what Jack is becoming? Make sure to let me know in reviews, PM's, anyway to contact me, I'm all ears. And don't forget to critique too with reviews. Anyway, hope you liked the chapter, bye!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Inconvenient Truth

No matter how hard he tried, Jack couldn't get his trembling to stop. His entire body shook and nothing he did would make it stop. Though making the shaking stop was in the background of his mind. Most of his focus was on his mother, who he looked at with wide frightened eyes.

Seeing him like that made a pang of guilt pass through Junes chest, her own throat going dry again, _'Why did it have to be like this? Just a few more days or weeks. Something so I could prepare for this…'_

"M-mom…" Jack whimpered, closing and opening his clawed hands, "W-what's happening to me? Why is it happening to me?"

June swallowed and looked around the bathroom before closing her eyes and sighing, "Jack, come on out into the living room, okay honey?" she reached out a hand to him to lead him out of the bathroom. Instead, he shrank back towards the shower, tripping over the rug.

Jack stumbled and flailed his arms and grabbed at the wall, his claws leaving thin gashes in the wall. He hit his head on the shower wall with an audible 'thud', and hissed in pain, curling his knees up towards him and grasping his head.

All this happened in an instant, and June immediately went into overdrive. Rushing to Jacks side, years of practice as a nurse took over, and despite his protests, June pulled Jacks hands away from his head, spreading his ebony hair apart and looking for any sign of cuts, bruises, or other injury.

She let out a grateful sigh when she saw none of these things, and let Jacks hands go. The teen wrapped his arms around his chest and hung his head. The trembling returned, and June slowly put a gentle hand on his shoulder. Jack flinched, making June herself recoil, before replacing her hand on his shoulder.

Jack looked up from his arms at June, who returned his look. She noticed that his eyes were split again, but given his current condition…it seemed to be the least of his problems.

"Jack…there's something I need to tell you." June sighed, this couldn't be delayed any longer, she had to spill the beans.

Silence was the only answer that she received from her son, so sighing again, June began her explanation, "Remember when I told you about the day you were born?" she started off, "That you were born a stillborn?"

Her son slowly nodded, remembering the story….and how the dragon from his dream referenced it.

"Well…when you came back to us… you wouldn't open your eyes. Even days later and your eyes never opened." those few days had terrified June with the worst thoughts going through her mind at what was wrong with her baby boy.

"The doctors kept you and me in the hospital for a full month, watching you to make sure you were a strong and healthy baby." she smiled faintly, "And you were, in almost every sense of the word. Except you never opened your eyes."

Her smile disappeared, "No matter what the doctors did or theorize, you wouldn't open your eyes. I was afraid you were going to be blind for your entire life, or something along those lines…"

Jack remained silent during this, not saying or doing anything. He just watched his mother intently as she spoke. It almost unnerved June, as the look reminded her of the look a predator had while watching its prey. She brushed that worry aside and continued her story.

"After the month though, the doctors decided to finally let me take you home…" now came the part of the story she wasn't looking forward to.

"That same night I brought you home though, I decided to take you into the backyard, hoping that maybe you would open your eyes for the starry night. But…something else happened."

Jack raised a brow, having a feeling that he knew what happened, "…A dragon, a huge white dragon landed in front of me in our backyard. He took one look at you and then…he told me you were the Ambassador."

Jack blinked and stared at her. A white dragon...could it have been the same one from his dreams? Could it have been Farseer?

Could he…He was the Ambassador?

_'That can't be right! Why me? Why pick me? I'm just a kid!'_ his mind raged, trying to deny the undeniable. It certainly would explain a lot though, not only the nightmares, but his current appearance, his random bits of knowledge he pulled out in class, and his random bouts of anger and territorial rage…

But what had happened to the last Ambassador? He'd been assassinated just before WWI broke out, from what he remembered.

But didn't the legends claim that, when the Ambassador re-appeared, so would the dragons?

How the hell could he play intermediary? Would the world accept them now? The Human race had expanded a lot over the last 100 odd years. Would there even be enough _room _for them now a days?

Would there be any conflict...

He swallowed, remembering his nightmares of a Flight of Dragons attacking a Roman city, if something like that happened now? Well, it'd be a hell of a lot worse, that was for certain.

June carefully watched him this whole time, a million different thoughts running through her head. _'He seems to be taking this better than I expected...'_ she thought, though she figured it'd only be a matter of time before the full weight of what she'd said slammed into him.

Jacks gaze seemed to grow far and distant, "No...that...that can't be right..." he murmured.

"Jack..."

"I can't be the Ambassador...I'm just a _kid!"_ he blurted out and stood suddenly from his mothers reach, pressing himself against the bathroom wall, "Just a kid with a nasty case of a really weird skin condition like Leprosy!" he shook his head, his body starting to tremble. His claws dug into the bathroom wall, easily breaking through the dry wall.

June felt her heart ache and stood up. She reached out and pulled him into a hug, not caring in the slightest as her hands moved over his scales. Jack though flinched, and almost made a run for it.

"You do _not _have Leprosy Jack." June said and began to stroke her hands through his hair, just holding him as his body began to shake with barely suppressed sobs of fear. She inwardly growled, cursing that damn dragon for bringing this on her own flesh and blood. He had been growing up to be such a good young man, and now…it all came tumbling down.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Jack murmured.

June stretched her arms out and looked at Jack. She had a feeling this question would be coming soon. And she dreaded answering it.

"Because…the dragon told me that I couldn't…that if I did you might grow up corrupted and abuse your position…" June hung her head and Jack shrugged her hug off and stood with his back to her, clearly angry, "I wanted nothing more than to tell you Jack," June insisted.

"Every nightmare you woke up screaming from, every fight you got in at school, I wanted to do nothing more than tell you. But I didn't…" June had wanted to tell him, but she feared the dragon would be right… And she could never in good conscious let her son grow up to be like that.

Jacks hand clenched and opened repeatedly, and started to feel a bit of rage bubbling up in his chest, "You…everything, you knew and never told me because of that stupid dragon!?" he hissed.

She brought her hands together and nodded, "I'm so sorry Jack."

He remained silent for a moment, letting this all sink in. She had known, all these years the nightmares, his changes, his aggressive tendencies, she knew! And she never once told him! Told him that _he_was the ambassador! He had no proof before but…

"GAH!" he roared furiously, and swiped at the countertop. The wooden counter shattered under his blow, and the sink listed forward dangerously. Jack didn't care though, he needed to vent his anger, not at his mother, at the whole situation on something.

So he stood there, chest heaving and glaring at the damage. All the while his mind racing.

He was the Ambassador. There was no ifs or buts about it. All he had to do was look in the mirror and he would see that there was no denying the truth any longer. He was the bridge between humans and dragons. And if that was the case, he would be the one to help them integrate into human society.

But how!? He was only 16, he didn't know anything about human politics, let alone dragon politics (if they had any). And he had seen the results of 'disagreements' between humans and dragons before. Somehow he was supposed to prevent _that _from happening! He could barely keep himself under control, how could he keep an entire race from not wanting to destroy all humans and itself!?

Jack fell to his knees and buried his head in his clawed hands again, "Why choose me!?" he demanded of no one, "I'm not…I'm not strong enough for this, I never wanted this!"

His hands scrunched against his head and the boy started trembling again. He had never wanted this, never wanted any of it…

All of this June saw go through her sons mind, the full weight of what he had been born to do finally slamming down on him. And it broke her heart. Jack was on the verge of tears, his entire body was trembling, and what was she doing? Standing in the shower like an idiot!

Mentally scolding herself for just standing there, June quickly rushed over to her sons side and kneeled next to him, wanting to just hug him, but not sure if he'd let her. So she was surprised when suddenly Jack nearly lashed out and hugged her tightly, burying his head into her shoulder, his trembling increasing.

Moisture began to form on her shoulder and she realized with a start that Jack was crying, "Why!? Why am I being turned into such a freak!?" he sobbed.

June returned his hug cautiously, noting him flinching when her hands touched his scales. Regardless, she began rubbing his back and stroking his hair, a technique that always helped calm him, "Shh," she whispered, "Don't say that Jack, you're not a freak."

"Mom, look at me!" he yelled, while still holding her tight, "I'm growing _scales _and claws!"

A sob broke his anger again, "I can't…I can't be the Ambassador mom. That kind of responsibility…."

June frowned and put herself at arms distance from her son, whose slit eyes were starting to get blood shot, "Jackson Darby, if you keep telling yourself that, then it will be true."

"B-but I can't it's-"

"I know it will be a lot to deal with Jack, I know trust me," June interrupted, letting her features soften. Over the past 16 years she had scrounged up every piece of information she could find on the Ambassador and his purpose. She was more than aware of what he would have to do. And as much as she hated it, there was nothing she could do about it.

Jack hung his head, making June frown. She tilted his head back up so they were eye level again, "Jack, listen. I can't imagine this is easy for you... I wish it was, but I know it isn't. But I want you to know that I will be here for you. No matter what happens, I will do whatever I can to help you. I promise."

A very weak smile crossed his face, "I…thanks…mom." he murmured.

June hugged her son tightly, "It's my pleasure Jack," she stood up, helping him off the ground.

Then she looked up and down his body and cocked her head to the side, "Exactly what happened to your shirt though?" she asked.

A deep red blush crept over Jacks scaled face, "It was too…itchy, so I took it off."

June raised a brow, "Itchy?" then she saw the area of skin between his scales and his flesh. Where the two separate bodies met, his skin was a sickly pale color, flaking rather heavily along the edges. It was like that on his hands too, and June had a feeling that Jack's hands would soon match the right side of his chest.

"I see," she murmured. If Jack was going to be continuously changing, then it was liable to think he'd grow even more scales. She wasn't sure what would ultimately happen, but if the scales were making him itch, then she needed to know so she could treat it. With those talons of his, he was liable to hurt himself, badly.

"Do you mind?" she asked, raising her hands, "I want to see if this is…hurting you."

"It doesn't hurt mom, really," Jack said quickly. He didn't want to add medical examination to the long list of things that he hated that happened today.

"Jack, humor me," June said dryly.

He let his shoulders sag and let out a sigh, "Fine," and raised his arms. This drill was practically ingrained into him. Having a nurse for a mother meant that checkups weren't exactly uncommon. And this was no different…except his right side was covered in scales and he had talons.

June was very careful as she examined Jacks arms and torso. She wasn't sure how sensitive he was, so she only made sure to touch wherever she needed to get a better view. The scales that were forming were very odd to the touch. They felt soft and pliable under her fingers, until she applied pressure. Then they seemed to solidify and felt harder than steel.

Jack seemed healthy though despite the scales, except when June touched the area where his skin and scales met. He hissed and backed away with his eyes clenched tight. June immediately recoiled, an apologetic look on her face.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"I know," Jack breathed, interrupting her, "I know, its fine, just give a guy fair warning next time,"

June nodded, "Right, sorry… You seem fine though besides that, perfectly healthy on the human side. I don't really know about the…"

"Dragon side…" her son finished, hanging his head again.

Feeling a pang of sadness at the sight, June put her finger under Jacks head and tilted it back up so they were eye level, "Hey, chin up." she told him softly, "We'll get through this, I promise."

Jack wasn't sure he believed her, but the words were…very comforting. They at least helped a little.

"Thanks mom…" he said, hugging her.

She returned the hug, "Anytime Jack." when she pulled away though, she had a more serious look on her face, "You do need to go to bed though young man. Its past curfew."

One look from his mother told him that this was not a topic for debate, so he just nodded, "Alright…I'll see you in the morning."

June ruffled his hair, "See you in the morning." and stepped aside so her son could leave.

Jack smiled a little at that and started down the hall, while June turned her attention to the damaged sink and sighed. Well, at least he didn't cause any more damage than that, she could fix that when she had the time.

As Jack walked down the hall and was sure his mom wasn't looking, he hunched over and gripped at his scaly side. It didn't hurt per say, but the area where his skin met his scales was incredibly painful. It felt like the skin there was loose, too loose. He didn't want to think about why, just that he didn't like the feeling.

Stopping at his door, Jack slowly pushed it open and staggered into his room, collapsing on his bed and curling into a ball. He hadn't realized how utterly exhausted he was until now, and sleep…sleep sounded good…

Almost as soon as Jack fell asleep, his eyes shot open. His vision took a moment to clear, but when it did, he quickly realized he wasn't in his room anymore. In fact, he wasn't even sure he was in Jasper anymore.

"Great, another dream," he muttered, slowly pushing himself off the cold ground. Once he staggered to his feet, he was able to get a handle on his surroundings.

He was in a deep cave of some sort, that seemed to stretch on forever in all directions. The walls stretched so far that he couldn't even see them. But the odd thing was that the cave was smooth, the floor smooth with only dust and pebbles occupying the floor. As if someone or something had designed the cave.

A breeze brushed against Jacks bare chest (seems whatever he wore when he went to sleep came with him into the dream world) and the teen shivered, rubbing his arms for warmth. He turned in the direction of the light breeze, the wind stirring up some dirt.

Jack paid it no mind though as he saw the entrance to the cave…and the massive figure curled up at the front, his large white triangular head watching Jack intently. Farseer, the ancient white dragon from his dream last night.

The great dragon slowly got to his clawed feet, stretching his back out before shaking his head and padding over to Jack, who backed away slowly. Farseer lowered his impressively large head until he was eye level with Jack, turning so that one silvery white eye focused on him.

"What do you want this time?" Jack growled, remembering their conversation from last time, and how incredibly cruel Farseer had been.

The dragons eye looked down before he let out a great sigh, **"To apologize."**

That caught Jack off guard, "A..Apologize!?" he asked incredulously.

Farseer straightened back up, **"Yes, I had acted like an ill mannered hatchling. It has been so long since I found and taught the last Ambassador that I forgot that hatchling humans are far more…delicate than a dragon."**

"Thanks…I guess…" Jack wasn't sure how to take this sudden shift in attitude. Farseer seemed nice, but how long until that changed?

**"However, I do want to remind you of the weight of your importance one last time Ambassador. My race's survival does hinge on you. And while I wish that such responsibility was not thrust on you so soon, it is a fact that needs to be accepted." **The dragon wrapped his scaly tail around his legs and looked down at Jack.

The boy sighed, "I know, and really…I don't think I can deny this anymore. I mean, look at me," he spread his arms out and looked at his mutating body, "There's no excuse for this."

Seeing the sad look on the boys face, Farseer leaned back down, **"Take heart…Jack, what you are is a great honor, a great privilege. You are both human and **_**Draco, **_**or Dragon."**

"How is this a privilege!" Jack screamed, glaring at the dragon, "Look at me! I'm growing scales and claws! I'm a half breed freak!"

Despite his yelling, Farseer's face remained passive until Jack stopped screaming, **"You look how you do because you have not yet realized your full potential. The fire within your heart has not been lit. It warms with each passing day, but until you light the fire yourself, you will never be true **_**Draconis.**_**"**

Jack frowned, "The fire in my…what does that even mean!?"

**"When the time comes young one, you will know.**" Farseer assured him.

"Great." Jack muttered. More vague fortunes, just what he needed.

"So…exactly why are you here?" Jack asked. He was hoping for _one _night of sleep, not more of this.

A low rumbling cough sprung from the white dragons throat, **"I realized that I had shown you what the worst could have happened if you did not accept what you were. Today, I wanted to show you the best of what could happen."**

Jack tilted his head to the side, puzzled by the dragons meaning, "The best of what could happen? What do you mean?"

Farseer opened his maw in the dragon equivalent of a smile. For as scaly and large as his face was, it was oddly very expressive. Though when Farseer reached his head over and plucked Jack off the ground by the scruff of his neck…he was less than happy.

"Whoa! Hey!" he protested, not daring to move too much. He could feel the dragons teeth digging gently into his scales, and dream or not, he didn't want to risk hurting himself.

"I can walk you know!" Jack yelled as the two left the cave.

Farseer let out a coughing laugh, **"Yes, but I wanted to personally show you… this…"**

"Show me what…?" Jack trailed off as the light that blinded him for a moment cleared and his jaw dropped.

They were thousands of feet high, hundreds above the clouds, dozens of mountain tops peaking through the cloud layer. The sun shone high overhead, shining down on the snow capped mountains, the white ice glimmering in the warm light.

But that was nothing, compared to the dragons he saw. Thousands of the great beasts swarmed through the sky, flying from mountain to mountain. Their colored hides glistening under the suns glow. It was like watching a thousand jewels fly through the sky, their powerful roars echoing through the mountains.

Looking closer, Jack saw that little caverns dotted the mountains, and that was where the dragons were flying to and from. Where they were finally hit Jack.

"It's…it's a city. A city of dragons!"

Farseer chuckled and placed Jack on the ground again, **"Yes. After the compact was signed, many characteristics from our races intertwined. Humans became more fierce, but more patient, able to look at the larger picture. My kind, we created cities in the mountains, a place for dragons to gather without fighting over territories. Here we talked, exchanged ideas, and studied the stars." **the ancient white dragon tilted his serpentine neck to the sky.

**"Our kind discovered how to navigate using the stars, and shared it with humanity, we discovered the world was round, and shared it with your kind. Every navigational feat humans use now, **_**Draconis **_**dispensed upon you. And in return, our race was united stronger than ever." **

Jack looked over the city with awe, "Where is this place?"

Farseer's head drooped, **"Abandoned, along with the rest of them. This city was located in the Appalachian mountains, and like the American people who colonized this continent, was a sprawling decadent city of wealth and power." **he let out a heavy sigh, **"And now it stands abandoned and forgotten."**

Looking back over the city, Jack found it hard to believe that anyone could forget about this, could abandon such a place. It was…breathtaking.

"Why did you abandon it, when the last Ambassador before me died that is." Jack asked, looking up at Farseer.

The dragon laid down on the stone floor and continued to look at Jack, **"We left out of disappointment. For nearly two thousand years humanity had heeded the advice of the Ambassador, and **_**never **_**tried to end his time on this world. The Ambassador was often killed by another dragon, but this was expected. But for humanity, the Ambassador was a signing symbol of what your kind could achieve when they set their differences aside."**

Farseer let out a puff of air through his nostrils, **"And in the end, it was humans that killed him and forgot it all, plunging themselves into a war that could have extinguished your race. We watched from our largest and most secluded city, waiting to see if Humanity could repair themselves after such a horrifying war. What we saw instead disgusted us, and so it was decided we would watch and wait until the Ambassador returned to humanity. When he had returned and humanity knew of his existence, we would begin our own return. Many had begun to believe the Ambassador would never be reborn, and our two races would fall into ruin…"**

Jack fell on his rear and put a hand to his head, "That's…that's why you were so desperate to find me, wasn't it? You want to bring all of this back, to…to restore both our races."

The ancient white dragon was silent for a moment, before he shifted his body to stand on his paws. His body creaked as he stood on his hind legs and arched his head back, before roaring to the heavens, a geyser of pure white fire erupting from his open maw.

The sound was deafening and rolled over the mountains. Jack clamped his hands over his ears, and brought his knees to his chest while Farseer continued to roar. He roared for a good solid two minutes, before he finally stopped and fell to his forepaws again.

**"Yes! You understand, you finally understand!" **he boomed happily, his tail lashing happily from side to side.

**"I had believed it would take weeks to convince you, to show you! But this, this is fantastic! You are one step closer to finally lighting the fire in your heart!"**

Jack winced at his voice while the dragon calmed down, "That's great, but…what happens when I finally do manage to do that?" he asked.

Farseer lowered his eye to Jacks, **"When you have achieved your heart of fire, you will join us in the sky. You will be a true **_**Draco**_**."**

Jacks eyes went wide and he looked at his clawed hands, "You mean I'm…I'm literally going to turn into a dragon?" the idea seemed so ludicrous, so insane…but at the same time, it seemed like he'd known that all along. And it seemed to make far more sense then turning into some sort of half human half dragon hybrid. What idiot would think that was a possibility?

**"Yes, you will be a **_**Draco. **_**Age will not claim you, disease will not claim you. Only the fires of battle will claim you." **Farseer's giant eye blinked.

"And my…friends, my family?" Jack asked. If he was immortal like Farseer said…the idea of watching everyone else grow old and die…it scared him.

Farseer though, grinned, **"While the presence of **_**Dracones **_**is able to influence a humans personality and strength, those closest to the Ambassador will not be claimed by age. They too will live until the Ambassador passes. When the last one died, his family lived for another ten rotations. His daughter still lives to this day."**

Jack was a little surprised by this detail, but decided to file it away for later. Meeting the daughter of his predecessor…it didn't sound like a good idea. It sounded very awkward and painful in fact.

"So…what happens now?" Jack asked, looking up at Farseer.

**"As I said, your body will shift and change as the days pass. But until you find a way to light the fire in your heart, you will never truly achieve the status of **_**Draco.**_**" **Farseer began to fade, and Jack realized the dream itself was ending.

"Wait, I have more questions, things I need to know!" he yelled out.

**"Fear not Jackson, w**e will _meet again…" _and like that, Jacks eyes snapped open to see his mom looking over him with worry.

"Jack, you okay?" she asked, stroking a strand of hair out of his face, "You were twitching and growling in your sleep." she told him.

Jack blinked a few times for his eyes to adjust, before he sat up with a hand on his head "You will not believe what I just found out."

**A/N: Whew! Man, am I the only one addicted to this story? This was a fun chapter to right after I got over my writers block. I hope that you guys can understand why Farseer was so harsh the first time now. But that said, what did you guys think of the chapter? Was it a good conversation between June and Jack? I had a lot of help on it from Guardian of Azaroth and Riyappe Paws, but tell me what you thought. Next chapter is Speed Metal, followed by Predatory, Crisscross, and Shadowzone. Why? Oh ho ho, you'll see. In the meantime though, let me know if you want me to continue this fic in the reviews, or suggest ideas, or ask questions. If you're not a guest, I will try and answer them. No offense to Guests, but I tend to forget your questions by the time I get the chapter out, so…yeah. Anyway, Bye!**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Burning Rubber

June sat at the dining room table, her hands wrapped around a coffee cup that she paid no mind too. Her focus was instead on Jack explaining what he had seen and learned in his dream, and the white dragons name. Farseer, very fitting for what he did.

Names aside everything her son had told her…A city full of dragons, immortality for himself, and…for her? It was too much, she almost didn't. almost couldn't believe it. If Jack had normal skin and wasn't covered in scales (which were inching up his chest, they were at his sternum now) she probably wouldn't.

But, she did and the amount of information she took in was…staggering. Jack clicked his claws on the table, looking rather sheepish, "And that's everything I know right now…"

June looked at her coffee, "That's a lot to wrap your head around" she murmured,"... But in hindsight, we have quite a bit of time before we get to that point."

Glancing at the clock on the wall, she sighed, "In the mean time, you have school, and I have work. And it wouldn't do either of us any good to sit and stew over this."

Jack nodded and stood up, making his way through the door and into his room before glancing at his mirror. The scales that adorned his body were growing more lustrous as time passed, and their edges occasionally flashed in the light. A precursor to what was to come.

He sighed, _'One thing at a time Darby, one thing at a time,'_

Walking over to his closet, Jack pulled out a new shirt, and pulled it over his head. A sharp, ripping sound reached his ears as he pulled it down his back. Pulling the shirt off, Jack saw the soft fabric had caught on the edges of the scales that now adorned his front and back. Dozens of holes dotted the right side of the shirt.

Jack tossed the ruined shirt aside, "Well scrap," he cursed.

"Mom!"

A moment later June poked her head in, "Something wrong?"

A red blush crept over Jacks face, "Yeah, I…my scales, they kinda tore up my shirt," he pointed to the ruined t-shirt, and realization dawned on Junes face.

"Oh. That is a problem…" she murmured, rubbing her chin with her index finger.

"Any idea how to fix it?" Jack asked. He did not want to go to school like this. People would utterly freak if they saw him right now.

June smiled, "I might…" she mused, before pointing to his bed, "Sit down and I'll be right back."

Nodding, Jack followed his mothers orders while the woman left his room for a moment. Jack sat there for about two or three minutes before June came back in with her emergency medical supplies in one hand…and a makeup box in the other.

"Uh…what's the makeup box for?" he asked, scooting away.

"It's for your face," June answered, setting the supplies down and zipping open her bag, "It's going to turn heads if you go to school with scales etched into your skin."

Jack blushed again, "Kinda forgot about that…" he admitted.

"Lucky for you, I didn't." June said, and pulled out several rolls of gauss, and looked at her son.

"Arms out," she ordered.

Jack complied and spread his arms, letting his mother wrap the gauss around his right arm and chest. He didn't even feel the material on his scales, it was too light to have an impact on them. When June was done, the entire right side of his body looked like it had been hurt in a horrible accident…but he looked a little more human.

Now for the less pleasant part.

June pulled up her makeup box, and popped it open, "Okay, relax your face Jack, this will only take a few minutes. I did take classes in effects make up, so this should look convincing."

Jack sighed and closed his eyes, letting his mother get to work. He sat like that for a good fifteen minutes, before June stopped working on him, "Done!" she announced.

She held up a mirror for Jack, who opened his eyes. When he saw his face, his eyes went wider. The flaky scale like pattern on his face…it was gone! He looked human again, his skin looked its normal healthy pale color! Even if the pattern was still there…Jack for the moment, felt a little more human.

"Now then," June pulled out two gloves, "You'll need these to hide those talons of yours," she pointed at his hands, "I would try and trim them, but I don't have a chainsaw, so…"

Jack actually chuckled a little at that, "Nice mom,"

"Hey, I try," she shrugged, before handing him the gloves, "Now get dressed, school starts in twenty minutes."

* * *

Jack rolled his shoulders as he walked through the halls at school. It was lunch period at the moment, and so far the makeup and gloves had held up fairly well. No one had seen past them, and except for the occasional odd look, no one mentioned his gloves. He had kept his eyes down or avoided making contact with anyone else, so they wouldn't notice they were slit shaped instead of circular.

Maybe he could pull this off, get through the school day without anyone noticing what was happening. At least, that's what he thought until he saw Vince picking on Raf. The bully was holding the young boys laptop just out of reach, making him jump for it.

"Come on pip squeak, you've almost got it, one more time!" he yelled encouragingly.

"Vince, come on!" Raf whined, jumping for his laptop, "Give it back!"

"Nah uh, you got to grab it yourself Esquivel," Vince said, holding the laptop up again.

"Vince! Give him his laptop back." Jack ordered, fists clenched tightly. He felt his claws cut into the soft leather of his gloves, but he paid it no mind.

Vince looked over at Jack and laughed, "Oh look who it is, ol'split eyes!"

Jack bit back a snarl. He _hated _that nickname. He'd been teased about that for most of elementary, especially since he never saw it. Until now, he thought they were just teasing him over nothing. Now though, it made him even angrier. Vince had _no _idea what he was going through, or why he was like this. He was just a bully capitalizing on a natural part of Jacks anatomy.

And it pissed. Him. Off.

Vince returned his attention back to Raf, holding his laptop just out of reach…until Jack grabbed him and slammed him against the locker, while handing Raf his laptop all at once. Vince quickly found that Jacks grip was nearly unbreakable, like iron. Jack glared at him with his draconic eyes, and the bully paled considerably.

"Listen Vince. No one likes your little tough guy act. We all know that when push comes to shove, you'll just scamper back home with your tail between your legs. So why don't you do us all a favor and drop the act!?" Jack hissed, his upper lip curling up in a feral snarl.

Vince stared at him wide eyed, obvious scenarios of what Jack might do running through his head…until the teen felt something tug on his arm. Jack looked to his side and saw Raf standing there with a worried expression.

"Jack, come on we should go before lunch period is over," the boy told him.

Jack blinked a few times, letting his mind clear before nodding and dropping Vince. The bully hit the floor with a thud and started coughing. Looking up at the two retreating figures, a low growl escaped Vince's throat, and the bully shot to his feet.

He threw a fist at Jack, "Little piece of-" and froze in shock when Jack whirled around, catching Vince's fist by the wrist.

"Real tough Vince," the teen growled, "Waiting for me to turn my back. That's a sign of a tough guy."

Raf tugged on his arm again, knowing where this would go, "Jack, come on, we need to go!"

Jack shoved Vince away and followed after Raf again, the two disappearing down the hall and leaving Vince to wonder what the hell had just happened. And how he could get back at Darby for humiliating him like that.

* * *

Once school ended, Jack felt immensely relieved to be leaving. He was sick of trying to hide what was happening to him, and his bandages around his scales were starting to fall apart from rubbing against them. The makeup hiding the scales on his face was starting to fail too, and when that happened… Jack wasn't looking forward to it.

But at the moment, he was on Arcee, backing out of their parking space, which happened to be next to a heavily customized Urbana 500 with flames that was owned by none other than…Vince.

Who was standing at his car's trunk. He took one look at Arcee and sneered, "Hey, cherry moped!"

Jack froze, and slowly turned to glare at Vince through his helmet, "Uh, this _moped_ has dual carbs and can go zero to sixty in 3.5 seconds." he lectured him.

Then he roared off before Vince had even a moment to respond, navigating the maze of streets that made up Jasper. When they came to a stop at a red light, Arcee flicked her mirrors to look at her charge, "Uh, Jack? A lady's vital stats are her _own _business." she told him.

Jack sighed and hung his head. Just another part of his dragon half. He always had to have the last word in an argument, always had to win.

"Hey!" a familiar voice called.

Jack looked up to see a girl with bright red hair and pale skin standing on the sidewalk next to him. Sierra, the head cheer captain, and her blonde friend that no one else knew. And Jacks biggest crush.

"Nick, right?" she asked.

"A-actually," Jack stuttered, "It…it's Jack…"

Sierra winced, "Jack, sorry," she apologized, "I'm Sierra."

"I-I know," Jack stuttered. Again. He didn't have the heart to tell her they had had the same class since fourth grade. He and attractive woman…his brain just didn't work.

"You once offered to take me for a ride," Sierra added, looking rather…sheepish at it.

"O-of c-course I did!" Jack agreed quickly, "A-anytime…"

Arcee's mirror flicked towards Jack "I'm your guardian kid, not your wingman."

Jack sighed and was about to tell Sierra today wouldn't work, when Vince suddenly pulled up in his muscle car " Hey hey, small world." he greeted with a smug grin.

Jack scowled, "I'm having a conversation." he said gesturing to Sierra on the other side of Vince's car.

Vince rolled his eyes "Cheer captain here, night enjoy watching you take on four wheels of muscle car." he stated, while Sierras friend whispered something into her ear, causing them both to giggle slightly.

Jack narrowed his eyes "Are you challenging me? To a race?" he asked in disbelief.

"You catch on quick ponch what do you say?" Vince stated. Jack inwardly sighed. Hadn't he humiliated Vince enough today?

Then again, hurting his pride again sounded pretty tempting…

"Ugh." Jack thought as Sierra gave him an expecting look.

"Well…" Jack started, before the light turned green. Arcee took off before he could answer, nearly knocking him off her. He did manage to grab hold of the bars, and held on tightly as Arcee drove to the next light.

"You-you didn't let me answer." he said as she drove away.

"Nope." she stated plainly.

"Arcee we can smoke him." Jack complained. He didn't want to race to impress Sierra, he wanted to put that arrogant jerk in his place, without burning his brains out.

"Yep." she said curtly.

He sighed "You just don't get it." he moaned.

"I don't make the rules Jack" she explained "Optimus does. And rule number one in case you missed it, never abuse power, even horsepower."

Jack sighed, as Vince pulled up beside him, "Vince" he started "maybe racing isn't such a good id-" he was cut off by a laugh from Vince.

He turned to look at the bully, not really surprised he was laughing at him "Figured" he laughed,"You ride around like your bikes something special." the bully put on a cruel smile "but it's just a clunky trunky bike." he paused "and _ugly_."

Jack felt Arcee bristle at that comment. The light turned green, and Vince did a burn out, before doing a U-turn around Jack heading back to probably hit on Sierra and her friend.

Jack coughed away the smoke while Arcee spoke "That's it, the Yahoo's going down." she snarled, and took off after Vince, causing Jack to struggle to hold on.

"Whoa!" he yelled "What happened to rule number one?"

"It gets bent" she growled "Just this once."

Jack grinned at that, and pulled up behind Vince, who was talking with Sierra and her friend again, "Ready when you are Vinny." he said confidently, revving the engine.

Vince scowled "Dirt road by Truckers ranch, one hour." he said.

* * *

Jack and Arcee were parked next to Vince along a long stretch of empty road. The wind occasionally picked up a bit of dirt, but the road was empty besides that.

"From here to the mile marker" he explained "ready, go!" and he took off, leaving Arcee and Jack in the dust.

The pair took off after him, and Jack mumbled "Well that was fair."

Vince easily pulled ahead, maintaining his lead, as Arcee and Jack began to catch up to him. Things were going slow, and Vince remained in the lead.

"Ugh Arcee?" he asked, worried they would lose.

"Winning isn't enough Jack" she paused for a moment "You want to make him cry." she stated sadistically, causing Jack to shiver slightly. Arcee could be terrifying when she wanted to be. Jack was just glad he'd never earned that fury from her.

Arcee's speed doubled, and she took off, quickly catching up to Vince, cruising alongside his car. The bully looked to his side in surprise, and Jack gave him a mock salute, before Arcee took off again, pulling into a wheelie as they passed Vince, and rocketed ahead.

They passed the mile marker, and Jack whooped in victory while Arcee blared her horns triumphantly.

"Outstanding!" he yelled in delight, before an idea occurred to him.

"Hey?" he asked hopefully, " Now might be a good time to offer Sierra a once around the block?"

"Don't push it." she warned.

Jack sighed, well one two out of three wasn't bad right?

* * *

Jack and Arcee rolled into base, before Jack got off. Arcee rolled next to him for a few feet, before assuming her 20 foot tall robot mode, lights glinting off her.

She stopped and looked at Jack "Not a word to anyone." she warned

Jack smiled as he took his helmet off "Our little secret." he promised with a wink. Satisfied, Arcee walked off into base.

Suddenly, Miko ran up from behind Jack startling him as she made an attempt at imitating a motorcycle engine "And the winner is Jack!" she said excitedly.

A shocked and worried expression appeared on the teens face "How did you find out?" he asked hurriedly.

She looked at him with an amazed look "You're kidding right?" she asked.

"The whole school knows how you knocked the pants off that blow hard bully Vince" Raf explained as he walked up to the two. That worried Jack, the race had already spread that quick? It had only been a few hours!

Jack grabbed the two and pulled them into a huddle "You guys have got to keep this a secret, got it? Especially from Optimus." he ordered.

The two nodded and he let them go "Thanks. Now, who wants to watch TV?" he asked.

* * *

Jack walked down the steps of the high school, running a hand through his hair as he sighed. the whole school had been abuzz about what happened between Vince and Jack, and how he had beat him badly. People kept asking him all sorts of questions about how he beat Vince, if he was going to race him again, and of course, if they could ride his motorcycle.

Any other kid would have been in heave. Jack hated every second of it. With trying to hide his changes, being the center of attention was the last thing he had wanted. All it would take is one wrong move, and his shirt would tear and the entire school would know. Then, his life as it was would be over.

He heard the door open behind him and turned to see Sierra standing there. A faint smile crossed Jacks face, "Hey." she muttered quietly.

"Hey." he replied

"I've been looking for you." she admitted "The race, how great was that? It was like, yeah go Jack." she said nervously.

Jack let his smile grow a little bigger before he rubbed his head in embarrassment "It was nothing." he said humbly.

Vince bumped into his shoulder from behind "You got that right!" he growled angrily as he turned to face Jack "If you think you can run with the big boys" he pointed a finger at him "the circuit. Tonight. 11 PM." he said ominously.

Jack looked from Sierra to Vince, before smiling halfheartedly.

* * *

"You agreed to what!?" Arcee demanded as they drove to base.

Jack sighed, he knew he'd regret this "It was some sort of secret racing club, and I didn't have a choice, Sierra was standing right there" he explained.

"You always have a choice Jack." Arcee lectured, again causing Jack to flinch. How did this femme know to say all the right things to make him feel guilty?

"And what part of just this once did you not understand?" she asked angrily.

"I know, I'm sorry… But where on right?" he asked hesitantly, though he already knew the answer.

"We are not on." Arcee stated, ending the conversation. Jack sat back slightly in the seat, disappointed but not surprised. Well there was always that one other option…

* * *

Raf was playing a racing game on the console in base, concentrating intently on the race.

"Raf?" Jack asked, causing the boy to lose focus and crash, before he turned to his friend "Is there any way I could borrow Bumblebee for like, an hour?" he asked nervously.

Bee whirred and beeped indignantly as if the idea of asking if he could be borrowed was offensive.

"Jack" Raf said "You know racing is against the rules. What if Optimus found out?"

Jack winced. The last thing he needed to do was think about the sort of reaction the Prime would have to Jack street racing.

Bee and Jack both sighed or beeped in disappointment at Raf's burst of responsibility.

"But Raf." Miko interrupted " Jacks got to get the girl." she explained, causing the twelve year old to look at her funny. Being twelve…he wasn't going to get that. Jack himself wasn't sure why he was so determined to impress Sierra…but he was.

Raf thought about everything he heard "Well…" he started.

"Come on Raf" Jack pleaded, raising a finger "Just this once?"

Bee nodded excitedly behind him and raised a servo. Raf looked between them, a thoughtful look on his face…

* * *

Jack and Bumblebee pulled into the empty canal that functioned as the circuit, the moon hanging high in the air. Nights like these made Jack just want to go for a run. But this time, he was going for a race. And he was going to win.

Various customized muscle and sport cars were scattered around, their drivers chatting with other drivers, or their girlfriends. Jack ignored them all, as he and Bumblebee pulled up next to Vince. The bully turned in surprise at the muscle car, as Jack rolled the window down "Bikes in the shop." he explained.

Vince set his face back into a scowl, and looked ahead. Jack furrowed his brow and looked forward. He failed to notice the familiar red European sports car in the rearview mirror. The flag girl stepped out in front of the cars, and Jack was surprised to see it was Sierra. She waved shyly at Jack, who felt a small smile tug at his lips, before preparing the flags.

"Racers are you ready?" the announcer asked "5…4" engines began to roar,"…3…2…1" and the cars shot off like rockets down the circuit.

Jack and Bee quickly pulled ahead, Vince behind them, as well as the red sports car. Suddenly though, the red car began to ram Vince repeatedly. Bee started beeping franticly though Jack couldn't understand him.

"What was that Bee?" he asked as he turned around in his seat "Wait I know that car." he said, when Bee yanked control from him, causing him to yelp in surprise. The yellow muscle car, and red sports car began speeding along the curved wall of the canal Jack looking around frantically. It was the same red con from the museum incident. Scrap!

He looked in the mirror and saw a blaster unfold from either side of the sports car, and aim at them, charging it's laser. It began to unleash a barrage of Energon bolts, causing Bee to take evasive maneuvers and give Jack mild motion sickness.

"Now I remember why I prefer motorcycles." he muttered, gripping Bee's door handle.

Bumblebee, deciding he needed to get the teen to safety, drove up the wall, and used it to jump onto the highway, the con in close pursuit.

"Can you lose him Bee?" Jack asked, as the con continued to fire at them. His answer was a series of beeps and whistles.

Jack looked around worriedly, "What did you say?" he asked, receiving more beeps and whirrs as a reply "I hope that means yes, cause I'd rather not have to call base for backup" he said nervously.

* * *

Miko and Raf were in the middle of an intense racing game, Bulkhead watching eagerly. Optimus was in his quarters, filling out paperwork, and Ratchet was busy cataloguing the Energon stockpile. They heard the sound of metal footsteps and noticed Arcee entering the main hall.

The femme looked around for a moment before asking "Anyone seen Jack?"

Raf, Miko, and Bulkhead all froze at her question and looked between each other quickly.

"Not since…" Miko paused for a moment trying to come up with an excuse "we last saw him. she answered quickly.

Arcee's eyes narrowed "Their racing aren't they?" she demanded.

"Just this once." Raf said nervously, hunching his shoulders.

Arcee turned to Bulkhead with a scowl on her faceplate, "Did you know about this?" she asked the wrecker.

Bulkhead turned away for a moment "No." he said, before noticing the look in Arcee's eyes "Maybe. A little."

Arcee sighed in frustration, when the terminal suddenly activated, showing Bee's ID tag. The scout began to rapidly beep a message over the channel.

Raf got up from the couch "Your being chased by Knockout?" he asked. Bee beeped what sounded like a yes.

Miko stood up, fist clenched "That sounds like a Decepticon."

"Bee do not engage, your first priority is to keep Jack safe" she ordered before turning to head after them "Before I get my hands on him." she muttered darkly.

* * *

Jack shivered when he heard Arcee's threat over the comm. He was touched she was concerned, but given how she sounded furious as well, he was pretty sure she meant her threat pretty well. And that…that would not end well.

Knockout continued to tailgate the two, before Bee began to dump out an oil slick, coating the road in the slippery stuff. The moment Knockouts wheels hit the liquid, he lost control, skidding from side to side as he struggled to stay on the road.

"Slick." Jack quipped. The pair quickly drove off, before finding a bridge over the canal. Bee went off road, and pulled under the bridge, hoping to lose Knockout. Once they were settled under the bridge, Bee shutoff his lights and the two waited in silence.

They heard the rumble of Knockouts engine as he pulled onto the bridge above them, and did the same, shutting his lights and engine off to listen for the bot. For several seconds, neither side dared to make a move. The entire area was dead silent. There was a sudden clicking noise, before Knockouts engine flared to life, and he drove off.

"I think we lost him." Jack let out a sigh of relief. He looked forward, and to his utter disappointment, saw the telltale headlights of Vince's modified muscle car approaching, "You got to be kidding me." he hissed, as Vince got out of his car, and slammed the door.

"Darby!" he yelled as he approached the duo slamming his fists together as he did.

"Vince you have to get out of here, "Jack warned "You win congratulations now go."

The red head slammed his hands on the hood "No, start her backup loser, we're finishing this race!" he commanded angrily.

Jack groaned at the bullies anger issues "Don't want to finish the race, fine, then we got something to settle right here right-" he was cutoff as a large metal hand reached down and plucked him off the ground. Vince reacted accordingly, by screaming his lungs out.

Jack struggled with Bee's seatbelt trying to get it off so he could rescue the bully. He fumbled with his gloves on and cursed. Bee wasn't helping, resisting his attempts to unbuckle and kept beeping at him, likely telling him to stay hidden. Jack heard the sound of Knockout transforming and driving off, and cursed as Bee finally let him go. He rushed to the top of the bridge, but Knockout was long gone by then.

Bee pulled up behind Jack, who turned to the scout "Bee come on he's getting away!" he yelled, and the scout began quickly beeping at him.

Jack let out a frustrated roar, "I can't understand you!" he yelled at the scout. Probably louder than he should have, but the language barrier was annoying!

He rubbed the back of his head while he thought "Look, how about you honk once for bad news, twice for good news." Bee promptly honked twice, and Jack looked over to see to his relief and horror, Arcee and Bulkhead approaching.

The bots transformed before him, and Arcee stood in front, hands on her hips. Before she could begin lecturing her though, Jack interrupted her "I know Arcee, I'm in a lot of trouble, but right now Knockout just snatched Vince, and is taking him god knows where."

The femme raised an eyebrow in confusion "What would he want with Vince?" she asked.

"He probably thought he was Bumblebees human friend" Jack sighed angrily "I'm not even Bumblebee's human friend. Look, that isn't the point. The point is that Vince is in trouble."

"Oh well, tough break for Vince." Bulkhead shrugged, earning an astonished look from everyone, especially Jack.

"Bulkhead!" Jack yelled.

"What?" Bulkhead asked innocently "I hear the guys a jerk."

Jack couldn't believe what he was hearing "That might be true, but he's also innocent. Even Vince doesn't deserve to get crushed by cons." he admitted. No one did.

Arcee looked at the boy, a hint of approval hidden in her optics, before she collapsed into vehicle form "Hop on." she ordered.

* * *

"They should have called by now." Raf said worriedly "Do you think Bumblebee's okay?"

"Don't worry Raf." she comforted, "Jack and Bulkhead would never let anything happen to Bee."

The sound of Optimus' booming footsteps caught their attention and the two turned to see the Autobot leader walking in from the hallway "We should just tell Optimus the truth." Raf whispered to her.

"Absolutely not!" Miko hissed, "We made a deal, just act completely normal." she ordered, and the two turned their attention back to the Prime.

Optimus approached the two "Raf, Miko, do either of you know where the others have gone?" he asked.  
**"**Why, no, sir. We do not know." Miko said stiffly

"Miko is correct. We do not know." Raf agreed, his voice cracking.

"Why would, _we_, know?" she asked even more stiffly. It was a minor miracle that with lying skills this bad, the two hadn't exposed the bots to the public.

Optimus raised a brow, in suspicion ,"Hmm..."

* * *

The small convoy of bots raced down the highway, searching for Knockout and Vince. There had been no sign of the con since they'd begun searching for him, and Jack was beginning to lose hope. So much for being the Ambassador, one human already dead because of him. Great.

The three came to a stop at a stop sign for a moment, when they saw a red sports car race by.

Jack did a double take, before he and Arcee raced after him, followed by Bulkhead and Bumblebee. They race after the con down the street, until he turned sharply into a nearly abandoned parking lot, a single beater parked in the corner.

"On your guard boys," Arcee ordered as she fell back into line with the others "it could be a trap."

"Remember, no shooting." Jack reminded them, and the two mech's took off.

Arcee pulled over "Speaking of safety, here's where you get off."

Jack sighed inwardly, before stepping off of Arcee. She race off after the two, while Jack stood there. He turned and looked through the buildings, listening and watching. He looked up and saw Arcee gracefully scale a nearby water tower for a tactical advantage, before she flipped up top and landed gracefully a top it.

Jack smiled "That's my girl." he said. The sound of blaster fire and the collapse of stone caught his attention, and he turned to see Bulkhead and Bee engaging a large blue mech with and orange faceplate. This had to be Breakdown, Knockouts infamous partner, and Bulkhead's rival. The two mech's engaged him, while Knockout remained parked in vehicle mode.

"Now where is the two wheeler?" he muttered to himself. As if in answer, a large blue and pink foot slammed itself onto his hood, and Arcee began punching his hood "Hey, watch the paint!" he yelled, before taking off.

Arcee managed to hold on as he barreled out of the parking lot. Jack watched them drive by, before Knockout made a sharp turn, knocking the femme off of him. She slid across the pavement transformed into vehicle mode, chasing after him.

Jack watched her go off and sighed, sitting on the pavement, "Damn it," he muttered, "I screwed up, I screwed up bad." Those damn instincts of his! He knew it wasn't his human half that had goaded him into that race.

It was his dragon half, the half that always made him reckless. Normally that recklessness had few consequences. But now? Vince could be a prisoner of the cons for the rest of his short life because of him. And even if they did manage to rescue him… He was not looking forward to his punishment.

Jack suddenly looked up as Arcee rolled to a stop in front of him, "Get on." she ordered.

Gulping, Jack got on, and Arcee roared off down the street with Bulkhead and Bee following close behind. They quickly left Jasper and followed the highway to see… Optimus, holding an unconscious Vince in his servo.

The half dragon teen saw Optimus look at him and rubbed the back of his head nervously, "Optimus…this was my fault, don't blame the others…" he pleaded. This was his fault and his fault alone. No one else needed to be punished for what he had done.

Optimus scowled, or did his best impression of a scowl, before speaking "For now our focus shall be on returning this boy home. Explanations shall come later"

Jack just nodded. He had no words left to say, except to accept the coming lecture from Optimus and Arcee…

* * *

Less than an hour later Jack and Arcee arrived back at his house, after dropping Vince off at his own house (Still unconscious), and pulled into his garage. Jack got off Arcee, who transformed behind him. Pulling his helmet off, Jack saw part of the makeup smeared on the inside of his helmet. He brought a gloved hand to his face and pulled it back to see the same.

"Jack…what were you thinking!?" Arcee demanded, "I said no, why did you drag Bumblebee into this? Did you even think about what could have happened."

Jack clenched his fist and sighed, "No, I didn't, And it was stupid, I know. But Arcee, there's something I need to tell you."

The femme paused at the tone in his voice. It was a very serious, very…ashamed, tone? Not shame at what he'd done, but…worse, much worse.

"Show me what?" she asked.

Jack let his helmet hit the floor and turned to face her, the makeup that had been concealing the scaly pattern on his face gone. Arcee's optics went wide at the sight of his face.

"Jack… what happened?" she reached a servo out, before stopping herself.

"There…there's more." Jack pulled off his gloves and showed off his clawed talons, "This isn't a disfigurement Arcee," he told her, and grabbed at his shirt, easily tearing it and the bandages off with his claws.

His scales glistened in the moonlight that streaked through the garage. Arcee looked utterly dumbstruck at Jacks appearance. The Ambassador sighed, "You know about Dragons, right Arcee?" he asked her. She slowly nodded.

"Well, to put a long story short, they are still very real. And the only thing that keeps them from attacking humanity is a being called the Ambassador, who is both a human and a Dragon. The last Ambassador died 100 years ago, and the Dragons vanished with him." Jack looked at his clawed hands and saw the scales on his right arm had made it up to his hand.

Arcee sat against the wall, a servo on her head, "You're…You're the next Ambassador, aren't you?"

He clenched his hands and nodded sadly, "Why didn't you tell us sooner?" she asked. She wasn't angry, not really. Arcee was more concerned about _why _Jack didn't tell her about something so big.

"Because all of this," he motioned to the scales on his chest, "Only showed up a few days ago. I just found out what I am. Human and Dragon."

"I didn't tell you because… because I didn't want you to see me any different." Jack admitted, clenching his claws, "To see me as some sort of monster, or freak. Or to treat me like some sort of savior. I just wanted to be treated like Jack."

Arcee felt her faceplate soften and she leaned forward, putting a servo on Jacks scales, "You're still Jack, nothing's changed that," she told him, "You might look a little different now, but you're still my charge Jack. And if you need me to help you control this other half of you, I'm more than happy to help."

Jack looked up at her and smiled weakly, "Thanks Arcee…it means a lot… But…can you keep this from the others. For now at least? I'll tell them about this when I'm ready."

Arcee hesitated for a moment. This was a pretty big deal, Jack being what he was, his changed and importance to humanity as a whole. The others deserved to know, didn't they?

But if she told them, when Jack wasn't ready…He wouldn't be able to handle it, would he? He would feel hurt, betrayed by her. And even though he'd been a major dumb aft today, giving out this huge secret to everyone was going too far.

She nodded, "Your secret is safe with me Jack."

Even though she'd probably kill him for it, Jack rushed forward and gave her a hug around the neck, making her stiffen, "Thanks Arcee…" he whispered.

A small smile crossed her lips, and she patted his back, "Your welcome Jack."

**A/N: So Arcee knows, and what's this!? She didn't go utterly over the top mad like in my other fics? Well ,the logic here is that since Jack only just found out what he was, and told her about it, instead of her over hearing it, or thinking he was dead for a month, she was more accepting of it. So those of you who are disappointed in the lack of Arcee fury, sorry. But that said, what did you guys think about this chapter? Did you like, dislike it? Do you think I should continue working on this fic or go back to Dark of the Night or Another Type of Alien? Let me know in the reviews or via PM. Bye!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Hunted

Jack rubbed his temples while sitting on the couch in base, trying to ease the splitting headache that occupied the front of his skull. A full day had passed since the racing incident, and after a short lecture from Optimus, things had returned to relative normalcy. He said that because at the moment he was the only human actually in base.

Miko was out with her host parents, who had dragged her out to a 'family bonding exercise,' with Bulkhead close behind. Raf and Bumblebee had gone out to one of the canals to race RC cars, and Optimus was in his quarters filing a few reports. That meant Jack, Arcee, and Ratchet were the only ones in the main hall of the base.

Ratchet was busy scanning for Energon signatures on the terminal, while Arcee had her left arm shifted into blaster form and was calibrating the sights. Jack had decided to relax with some TV, but quickly found that his entire body hurt. His forehead, back, tailbone, legs, skin, everything hurt.

But, the pain at the front of his skull easily triumphed over it all. And the longer he sat there, hunched over on the couch, the more precise and sharp the pain grew. Especially along his hair line, where two separate maelstroms of pain seemed to be pulsing repeatedly.

"Ugh…" he moaned, rubbing little circles into his temples, "Go away…" he ordered the headache. Surprisingly it didn't change.

Then, for a brief moment, the pain spiked, making Jack clench his eyes and teeth, resisting the urge to scream as loud as humanly possible….and then it was gone. Opening an eye, Jack quickly realized that while the rest of his body was hurting, his heads pain had dulled.

A strange change, but not one he would complain about…until something warm trailed down the side of his face. Jack brought a gloved hand to the substance, and put his hand in front of him to see dark red blood on the tip of his finger. His breath catching Jack stood up quickly, making Arcee look up from her work at him in time to see him slam the bathroom door behind him.

Knowing what he was, and what was happening to him, the femme frowned wondering what was bothering him this time. More scales maybe? She wouldn't know until he came out.

Jack stumbled into the bathroom, readjusting his pants (which had been giving him trouble all day. His scales made it difficult for the waist to not slide around or get caught on their edges.) and stumbling in front of a mirror that was above the bathroom sink.

Two thin streams of blood trailed out the side of his forehead and down the side of his face. Jack lifted his bangs up, and froze. On either edge of his forehead, were two bony ridges jutting from his skull. They looked to be made of some sort of bone, and their bases were ridged. Both horns, they couldn't be anything else, curved up slightly into his hair, and were about three or four inches in length, an inch at the base.

"Horns…I have horns…" he muttered, barely believing what he saw. If his hair wasn't so long, he wouldn't be able to hide it at all. And even with it down, he could see the sharp edges jutting just barely above the top of his hair.

"How am I going to hide _this_?" he thought aloud. There was no way, they were too big, too noticeable. His hair was his only defense, and even then…

He sighed, "First things first, I need to get this blood off my face." he said to himself. The sink sputtered on and Jack washed the blood off his face and his new horns. Unfortunately, the makeup that hid his scaly complexion also went down the drain.

Jack sighed, looking at the mirror, "Great…guess it's time to go home then." he muttered.

Standing up, the teen dried his face off and poked his head out of the bathroom door. He looked to his side and saw Ratchet on his terminal. When he looked to the other side, he saw Arcee resuming her work on her blaster.

"Psst!" he called, "Arcee!"

The femme looked up from her work to see Jack. She raised an optic ridge, "I need a ride home, it's a long story, but I'll explain on the ride." he whispered.

She nodded, seeing his scaled face, and stood up, "Ratchet, I'm going to give Jack a ride home, if that's no trouble."

"Actually," Ratchet raised a servo, "There is one problem. An unknown Energon signature has appeared in northern Washington. I need you to check it out."

He looked over his shoulder at her, "If you want, you can bring Jack. It's low risk, he'll be fine."

Arcee looked to her charge with a questioning look, and he shrugged. Heading out to some fresh air sounded nice about now. Let him stretch his legs, work out the sore pain that dominated his body.

"Alright, open a bridge then Ratchet," Arcee said, motioning for Jack to follow.

The teen nodded and darted out of the bathroom, snatching his backpack (which he had emptied of school supplies earlier) off the table. He slid down the stair railing and hopped off at the bottom, jogging after Arcee.

The two walked through the bridge into a huge forest, filled with trees that towered over both of them with ease. The entire area was poorly lit due to the consistency and size of the wooden mammoths, but Jack didn't let that bother him.

He took in one deep breath and let out a happy sigh, "Man, that is so much better," he admitted.

"Getting cramped at base?" Arcee pulled a scanner out of her subspace and started forward, Jack following behind, scratching at himself again.

"Keeping up appearances and hiding my scales is annoying," he admitted, "I have to wear bandages just to keep them from tearing my shirt apart."

Jack frowned, "Speaking of, I think I'll change them when I get back to base," he said more to himself then Arcee. With that said, he pulled off his gloves and double shirt combo, stuffed them into his backpack, and tore the bandages off his chest.

Instant relief hit him when the warm air brushed against his chest, and the itching feeling that had been building up faded away.

Arcee chuckled, "Careful Jack, might make the girls swoon." she joked.

The boy dragon glared at her, "Funny. Not my fault that I get so itchy,"

"We could help if you told the rest of base." Arcee reminded him.

Jacks glare dropped and he sighed, "Yeah… I know, it's just…I'm not ready yet Arcee. I just need the right time to tell them, and then I will."

Arcee looked at her scanner again and nodded, "I understand Jack. Just don't put it off. The others might not appreciate you lying to them."

"I'm not lying…" Jack started, hopping down from a fallen log onto the forest floor, "Just… with holding the information is all."

"Either way, they won't like it," Arcee reminded him, "Just keep that in mind."

He hung his head at that, "I…I know Arcee, it's just that- whoa!" he suddenly fell flat on his face, as his left leg refused to move while he was walking.

Arcee froze midstride and looked back at her charge, "You alright?"

Jack shook his head and rolled onto his back, "Yeah, I'm…" his eyes went wide.

Poking out of the bottom of his left pant leg…was a scaled appendage, about two or three feet long. Jack reached forward and touched it, and felt a reaction shoot back up his spine. It took a few seconds for him to realize now why his pants had been so uncomfortable through the day, and why his left leg felt so stiff.

He flexed his leg and felt something else there, how he hadn't noticed it before was anyones guess, but…

"You have to be kidding me…" he muttered. Of all the parts of his eventual dragon biology to develop…this was the one that had to form in the middle of a forest!?

"Jack, what is it?" Arcee asked, this time sounding a touched concern.

Jack stood to his feet and blushed a little. Everything now felt very uncomfortable around his waist and legs, "Ugh… Arcee, I just need a minute alone. You can go ahead, I'll catch up." a slow blush began to creep onto his face.

"You sure?"

"Yes!" he said quickly, "Very very sure. I'll be with you in a moment," he waved his hands as a sign for her to go.

Frowning, the femme slowly turned around and walked back through the forest, following her scanner. Once he was sure she wouldn't see him, Jack set his pack down and pulled his trousers down, looking over his shoulder to see his fears confirmed.

Sprouting a good six feet from his tailbone, where the scales on his back had already covered the area, was a thick scaly tail, with two small wing like fins at the end. He had a tail.

**He had a freaking tail!**

The limb slowly swayed from side to side while Jack just stared at it wide eyed. There was no way he'd be able to get it back into his pant leg like before, given how long it was, but he wasn't going to walk around without pants!

So, picking up his trousers, Jack took one of his claws, and cut a slit at the back so he could stick his tail through. Pulling them back on, Jack found his new…tail, slipped through the slit with ease. He looked over his bare shoulder to see the limb swaying back and forth comfortably.

Sighing, Jack swung his backpack over his shoulder and ran off in the direction he saw Arcee go. It wasn't long before he managed to find her, faceplate practically buried in her scanner. Jack slowed to a trot as he caught up with her and nearly jumped when he felt something wrap around his waist. He looked down to see the silver scales of his tail wrapped around his entire lower torso.

"Odd…" he muttered, before shaking his head and looking up, "Arcee!"

The femme looked up from her scanner at the boy, "Was wondering when you'd catch up." she said, before seeing the limb wrapped around his waist, "Uh…"

Jack followed her gaze to his tail and sighed, letting it unwrap, "Yeah…apparently I have a tail now…" he said under his breath.

Arcee quirked her lips, "Well…how are you going to hide this at base?"

"I don't know Arcee, look, don't we have an Energon signature to investigate?" he asked, wanting to do nothing more than change the subject. He would think of what to do about his tail, which was twitching with irritation, later.

At that moment, the scanner let out a shrill beeping and Arcee examined it "That's odd" she said looking at the device "Ratchets satellite scans were accurate, but subterranean Energon deposits don't cause this kind of surge."

She started down the hill, and Jack followed quickly. Last thing he wanted was to get lost in the woods, especially with the sun setting, and the clouds threatening with rain. He didn't want to test his chances at night in the forest. Even with his scales and talons, he wasn't sure he'd be able to survive a night there.

Jack and Arcee trudged through the forest of trees, heading towards the mysterious Energon signal that Ratchet had detected. Jack started to notice that as they grew closer, the tree's seemed to becoming more sparse, and their bark blackened.

Arcee came to a sudden stop as her scanner started beeping again. She looked up as Jack caught up, and the two were shocked to see a large gash in the ground, extending to the left and right for hundreds of feet. All the tree's in the immediate vicinity had been burned to blackened stumps, and the ground in the center of the gash had hardened, and appeared to look like black glass.

"What happened?" Jack wondered aloud. The scent, the sounds in the area, things he rarely ever noticed…seemed unnatural, broken…dead.

"Crash landing." Arcee explained looking over the wreckage, optics narrowed.

Jack had to agree with that statement. Nothing else could make a gash like this, and a faint scent drifted into his nose. It smelled like…a mix of gas and oil, with a hint of…water? What?

"Stay behind me, low and close" Arcee ordered as she began walking into the crash site, Jack tailing her.

The two began walking along the side of the gash, when Arcee took off at a quick jogging pace. She began stopping behind each tree, scanning for any signs of life. Jack imitated her, new senses opening up to him. He wasn't sure why, but he could hear things better now. The creatures of the forest, the sound of small fires burning, and the scent of death, which refused to fade. He didn't like it.

Arcee came to a sudden stop at the edge of a crater, crouched by a tree. Jack walked up beside her, and followed her gaze. In the center of the crater was a large ship, dug into the ground, covered in scratches, dents, and burn marks.

"Autobot, or Decepticon?" Jack asked, as the ship was clearly Cybertronian.

"Can't tell." She answered.

She shifted her arm into a blaster "Wait here." she ordered.

"But-" one look from Arcee silenced any protests Jack might have had. If it was a con, she would know what to do. She stood up and began circling the crater, while Jack crouched on all fours by the tree, waiting, his tail wrapped around his legs.

Arcee approached the ship, walking slowly by its side, blaster raised. She paused as she approached the entrance of the ship. The entrance was open, and she stopped, waiting for a few precious moments to listen for any sign of the occupant.

When she heard none, she spun in front of opening blaster pointed in the entrance. There was no sign of any Cybertronian, Autobot or Decepticon, and she lowered her blaster slightly. She began walking in slowly, scanning both sides for a possible ambush.

Jack continued waiting for his partner slash guardian to emerge from the crashed ship, worried about her. If it was a bot, she should have been out sooner. But what if it had been a con and she was…?

Jack shook his head of the idea. The sounds of combat would have been painfully easy to here.

He suddenly spotted the blue and pink figure of Arcee along the side, her servo on the plating of the ship. But something was wrong, she seemed, injured. Jack jumped down the hill and ran towards her.

" A-Arcee" he called in worry.

Arcee stood by the ship, helm facing down. Memories flashed through her mind.

_A black and purple eight legged bot._

_A raised blade. _

_A quick flash and the sound of metal on metal. _

Energon splashing the walls.

Arcee shook her head to forget the memories. If that bot was here…

"Arcee!" Jack called "What's wrong?

She heard her charge calling her and looked up at him "I know who this ship belongs to" she said solemnly.

Straightening up, she placed a servo on her comm. "Arcee to base, I need a ground bridge ASAP." static was the only answer she received.

"Wait wait why?" Jack asked "Who's ship is this?"

Arcee ignored the teen and tried again "Arcee to base do you read?" again static.

"Scrap." she cursed as she began to pace "Comm. link's dead. Ship has to be transmitting a hyper-comm. sequence scrambling pulse." she said and began to walk away.

Jack followed her, "Arcee!" he called again.

"You're kinda freaking me out here." he admitted. He'd never seen the femme act this way. Whoever this ship belonged to must have been bad.

Arcee approached the edge of the crater and stopped "Wait here." she ordered strictly. Jack stopped, and the femme walked into the woods, leaving him by the ship.

She walked through the woods, examining the trees as she passed them. Deep slashes were etched into them, something no Earth creature she had seen could do. She looked down and saw tracks in the dirt. She knelt and examined them in greater detail. The tracks were made by a thin four legged being, and continued on up the path.

Arcee looked up and was hit with another flash of memory.

_She was in a prison cell on Cybertron, her arms restrained. The only light in the room came from a faint beam from above that left the rest of the room in darkness. Arcee struggled to break free, to get away, when she was interrupted by the sound of footsteps._

_Looking up, she saw a figure cloaked by shadows, only it's purpled hate filled eyes visible to her._

_There was the sound of a weapon un sheathing, and a single pointed talon was raised towards her faceplate._

_Arcee struggled to pull her faceplate away, but it was useless. The claw came to rest on her cheek, below her left optic._

_The memory faded to black as the sound of metal screeching against metal could be heard, and Arcee let out a blood curdling scream._

Arcee returned to the present, venting slightly as the painful memory passed. If this was the same bot, the same femme…

"Arcee?" Jack said from her side. He had ignored her order and followed anyway.

The femme turned to her charge in surprise, a worried look on her face. Without a word she collapsed into vehicle form in front of him.

"Climb on." she ordered.

Jack shrugged and did as he was told. Ever since she'd gone aboard the ship she'd been acting strange. Jumpy, nervous, almost… afraid? Jack shook his head. Arcee was many things, but she never was afraid, never showed it. Even so, something was bothering her, and he'd find out what.

He ignored the odd feeling of sitting with a tail… And without warning, the femme took off before he could grab his helmet from her sub-space. She began racing through the forest, dodging trees and jumping over hills, all at extreme speeds, the roar of her engine echoing through the woods.

Jack let out a few panicked yells as she navigated her way through the forest and he saw a large ravine ahead "Arcee!?" he cried nervously. Without even slowing, the Autobot jumped it, Jack letting out a scream as they flew over the ravine and landed safely on the other side.

She came to a screeching halt, and Jack let go panting slightly "Okay was that really necessary?" he demanded, annoyed.

Jack got off her, and Arcee ignored his question "Arcee to base." she tried over the comm. again "Scrap!" she cursed as she began to roll off.

"Look," Jack tried to explain "I've seen danger before-"

Arcee cut him off "Wait here." she ordered "I mean it this time."

Jack snorted not even hiding how annoyed he was at this,"Okay first you shut me out, and now your ditching me?" he asked angrily. He probably shouldn't but the femme was acting weird, weirder than usual that is.

Arcee transformed and looked down at him "I thought I was your partner?" he asked.

Arcee shook her head "No Jack you're a kid." she stated "You're only supposed to be here because it was a no risk scenario." she stomped towards him "got it?" she asked bitterly.

She transformed and drove back to the ship, leaving Jack standing there confused. She jumped back over the ravine and began to disappear.

Jack shook his head and began to follow. He might have been a kid to her, but he was more than capable of handling himself. Whoever it was that had Arcee strung up like this, he could handle them, right?

He approached the ravine and looked down. It was easily a thirty foot drop straight down. He looked to the other side, about forty feet away. Scowling, Jack turned around and walked back, putting some distance between himself and the ravine.

Then, he whirled back around and sprinted at the ravine as fast as he could. Everything was a blur as he ran, and instinct began to take over. Without even realizing what was happening, Jack went to all fours, and leapt across the ravine.

He hit the ground with a thud on the other side, and rolled on his side across the ground. Shaking his head, Jack slowly got up, brushing the dirt off his scales, their shine covered in filth.

_'I'll need to clean them later…'_ he shook his head, "Focus." he hissed, and took off in the direction of Arcee.

* * *

Arcee sped through the woods at a blistering speed, heading back to the original spot where she found the tracks. Her processor was full of conflicting emotions and thoughts. Anger, confusion, worry, and fear just to name a few. But she shoved all these emotions aside, they would just get in the way of what needed to be done.

She came to a stop at the tracks and transformed, arming her blaster. She walked through the forest, senses on full alert, looking from side to side, expecting the femme to appear at any moment. She heard the sound of something burning ahead of her and scanned the trees for the source of the sound. Her motors froze when she saw it.

A tree had been burnt clean through by the stump by a green acidic like substance Arcee looked at it in horror as more memories returned.

* * *

_Blaster fire could be heard everywhere as she ran through the deserted streets of one of the many dead cities of Cybertron. It had likely had a name once, but it had long been lost to the ravages of war._

_"Arcee to delta team," she commed "requesting rendezvous coordinates, do you copy?"_

_"Arcee you lost again?" her partner Tailgate joked over the comm."Your sense of direction could use some improvement." he quipped._

_Arcee smiled as she ran, dodging blaster fire "So could your aim tailgate." she retorted as she continued to run "If you'd tagged that sniper back at the artillery depot, we wouldn't have had to break rank and engaged the enemy hand to hand." she lectured._

_She ran into a relatively abandoned plaza, with no sign of con or bot activity "Judging by the sound of things, I'm guessing you came out ahead?" he asked in worried tone._

_She walked through the plaza to get to the rendezvous, blaster raised "Try waiting up for me this time, and I'll give you the blow by blow." she said with a smile "What's your position?" she asked._

_"About half a click from the depot due north." he answered "Think you can find it partner?" he asked, the humor evident in his voice._

_"Trust me Tailgate" she said as she lowered her guard "My navigation abilities are-" her bragging was cutoff as a string of thick gooey substance slammed her into a wall with a grunt. She struggled against it, grunting as she tried to break free._

_She looked forward and saw a slim black and purple femme approaching her, before she shot another strand of the stuff at her, obscuring her vision._

_Later Arcee was struggling against the stasis cuffs holding her above the floor. Try as she might though, she couldn't break free._

_She heard the sound of steps behind. The sound of a cool seductive female voice interrupted her struggles "Piece of advice" she said as she circled Arcee "Make yourself comfortable."_

_The femme stopped in front of her, before walking forward, slowly raising her talon "You're going to be here a while." she said sadistically. _

_Arcee tried pulling her faceplate away from the talon, but the cuffs restrained her. The talon stopped on her cheek, and slowly drew across it, leaving a deep burning cut in her faceplate, it sizzled from the acidic touch of her captor. Arcee hung her helm in exhaustion._

* * *

Arcee shook herself from the memory, and armed her blaster. She wouldn't let that glitch escape. Not this time, not after what she'd done. With her mind cleared, she began moving through the forest faster. The sun was beginning to set, causing the shadows of the trees to grow long and twisted, like deformed hands reaching out to grasp something, anything.

Arcee ran, until she came to a stop at the top of the hill, and examined the scene before her. To her left was a human campsite, but to her right…

To her right, it was her, the femme that had done so much to her quickly skittering across the forest floor on her extra legs. Arcee knew she was heading for the human in the tent and sprang into action.

She rushed down the hill, and right as her femme target leapt through the air, Arcee tackled her to the side. The two began struggling and wrestling as they tumbled down the hill. Eventually, they came to the bottom and released each other. Arcee flew and slammed into the wall of a cliff, while the black femme skid across the ground, before standing up on her six legs that sprouted from her back.

The black femme began to approach Arcee, as the femme struggled to her feet "Arcee" she said with perverse delight "small universe." she said.

"Too small… Airachnid." Arcee hissed, hate dripping off each word.

"Still holding a grudge?" the spider bot asked nonchalantly, while circling Arcee "The war's been over for mega-cycles."

"Tell that to the Decepticons." she snapped and she took up her fighting position.

"These days I travel solo" Airachnid said dismissively, before smiling, "In pursuit of my new hobby"

Arcee scowled and memories of the horrific scene she had seen in aboard Airachnid's ship flashed through her mind. In tje ship she had seen dozen's of alien heads, hung up like they were in some sort of sick trophy case.

"I got a look at your souvenir case" she growled at the femme.

"You mean my trophies?" She corrected proudly "I collect endangered species" she paused for a moment "Of course they aren't really endangered, until they meet me, and I have a new slot reserved for humanity." she said darkly.

"Not gonna happen." Arcee promised, and she charged the spider bot.

She tackled Airachnid into the ground, and raised her fist to strike. She felt her extra legs grab her before she could, and fling her back into the cliff side wall, causing dust and rubble to fall. Airachnid quickly got up rubbing her vocal processor as she did. Arcee stood up as well, and shifted bot her arms into blasters, firing a barrage of Energon blasts at the spider.

Airachnid avoided the blasts with ease, and jumped between two trees, the trees groaning in protest under her weight. The femme unleashed several strings of web, that tied Arcee's blasters together and grabbed hold of the webbing in her servo's. The two struggled in a game of tug of war, before Arcee finally managed to rip the con from the trees. Airachnid landed on the ground with a thud.

Arcee struggled to rip her arms free of the webbing when an idea struck her. Leaning down, she used the sharpened edge of her boot armor to cut through the webbing with ease. She flung it to either side of her, before unleashing another barrage of blasts at Airachnid.

The femme shielded her eyes from the blasts for a brief moment, before returning fire on Arcee. Arcee charged toward Airachnid, jumping onto a tree branch. Grabbing hold of it, she quickly spun around it, launching herself into the air. She landed on another tree, and jumped at Airachnid, delivering a straight kick to the spider-bots' chest.

She stood over the femme victorious, and armed her blasters at her face, ready to end it. Airachnid squinted from the glare, when the sound of tumbling rocks caught both of their attention.

Arcee let a small gasp escape as she saw Jack climbing down the hill. How he had gotten over the ravine, let alone found her was beyond her. But, right now she had to finish Airachnid, and get him to safety.

Airachnid smirked as she used Arcee's momentary distraction to knock her off. Arcee stumbled backwards, and tried straightening, but had been tired by the fight. Before she could recover, Airachnid stood and fired twin shots of webbing at the femme, trapping her to the wall.

Arcee sat trapped against the wall, grunting as she struggled "Arcee!" Jack called as he raced towards her.

His voice caught the attention of Airachnid, who turned toward the boy with a gleeful hiss. Arcee looked from Jack to Airachnid in horror, before an idea struck. She shifted her left arm into her arm blade, and cut the webbing away from her limb. Once it was free, she shift it into a blaster and opened fire on the spider femme, scoring a direct hit on the spider-femme's chest.

Airachnid flew back from the blast, and hit the ground in a heap, struggling for a moment to get back up and failing. She fell back unconscious and her legs shriveled up around her chest. For the moment she wasn't a threat to anyone.

Arcee scolded Jack as he approached her "I told you to wait for me!" she yelled.

"Well partners don't ditch partners." he stated. He immediately got to work trying to free Arcee, using his talons to cut the webbing away, strand by strand. It wasn't a fast or easy process, but it was working.

Arcee scowled at Jacks stubbornness "Get this through your head." she growled, "You're not my partner, you're a liability!" she yelled

Jack shook his head "I don't believe you." he said stubbornly, and then looked up at her "I can see it in your eyes, you're afraid Arcee, and your _never_ afraid."

Arcee looked away in shame, when the memories hit her again.

* * *

_Arcee was hung up in the same cell, while Airachnid continued to circle her, like a predator, searching for its prey's weakness._

_"You know, for an Autobot, your resilience is quiet impressive" she commented "In fact, I'm guessing that no matter what I do to you, you'll never crack."_

_Arcee was silent "Am I right?" Airachnid asked, earning only a glare from Arcee._

_"That's what I thought." she said matter of factly._

_The cell door opened and two Vehicons walked in, carrying a limp form between them. It took a moment, but Arcee's optics widened in fear and worry, as she recognized her partner "Tailgate?" she whispered_

_The two troopers marched him over to a spot in the cell, before placing two cuffs on him. He groaned in pain slightly, as electricity surged into the cuffs, and lifted his arms above him._

_"What have you done to him?" Arcee demanded._

_Airachnid chuckled lightly "Not much, yet." she stated darkly._

_She began circling Arcee again "Just tell me what I want to know or well… You're a smart bot. I think you can imagine what happens to tailgate next."_

_"I don't know the attack coordinates." Arcee said quickly._

_Airachnid scowled, and slowly approached Tailgate "I swear upon the allspark it's the truth!" she yelled._

_"We shall see." Airachnid casually said as she approached Arcee's partner._

_Airachnid's legs switched to attack mode "No! Please!" Arcee begged tears forming in her optics._

_Airachnid growled in anger._

_She raised her extra leg to strike._

_There was the sound of metal striking metal. _

_Energon splashed against the wall._

_"TAILGATE!"_

* * *

The memory of her partners demise quickly passed through Arcee's mind and she looked back at the boy struggling to cut the webbing off her, "Your right Jack I am afraid" she admitted "Of losing you!"

Jack looked up at the femme in shock. Arcee, worried about losing him?

His surprise was interrupted by the cool voice of Airachnid "You sure have trouble hanging on to your partners don't you?" she asked as she approached "We all remember what happened to Tailgate."

Arcee glared at the femme hatefully while Jack practically bristled. His lip pulled back in a snarl and his tail lashed from side to side angrily. He wouldn't let Arcee get hurt, even if he died in the process. She was his partner even if she wouldn't admit it.

Airachnid smiled and continued to speak, "But I recently picked up some Decepticon radio chatter regarding the passing of Cliffjumper." Jack glared at her, while Arcee began to vent in panic.

"At some point you really need to ask yourself something Arcee," Airachnid smiled in vicious delight "is it them, or me?"

"Do you get it now Jack?" Arcee demanded frantically.

"She's not interested in me, she hunts indigenous species." she paused as she let it sink in "She's on Earth, that means humans, dragons… You!"

Jack's eyes widened in horror "**Run**!" Arcee screamed. All the fear, the panic, and worry she'd been holding back was released in that one word.

Looking at Airachnid, Jack took a look at Arcee… and ran. He took off like a shot, running as fast as he could. Every instinct screamed at him to go back and fight, that he shouldn't back down. But if Airachnid was interested in hunting him…he couldn't let her. He remembered Farseers words and what he'd told him. He would not let war break out again because of his stubbornness.

Airachnid blasted another web over the old one restraining Arcee.

She let out a laugh while she approached Arcee, who was fiercely struggling against the webbing "And that's why I prefer to work alone," she slammed one of her extra legs into the wall behind Arcee, and lifted her faceplate to eyelevel with a single talon "It's so sad when something bad happens to those close to you."

She began to crawl up the side of the wall until she was staring at Arcee upside down "But, don't get me wrong" she smiled, exposing her sharpened denta "I still plan to snuff out your spark." her voice became darker "and believe me, I _will_ make it hurt."

"But that won't compare to the pain you'll feel, knowing I'm adding your little pet freak to my collection." she said in a sickeningly happy tone. She turned her head to look at the fleeing form of Jack.

He'd already made it to the top of the hill, and only looked back for a moment, before he took off again, this time running on all fours.

Airachnid jumped off the wall, and landed with a loud crash, causing dust to spread everywhere. She chuckled "Oh I do love it when they run." she chuckled, and took off after him.

Arcee watched the femme leave, her spark full of fear, and failure. Jack was likely going to die, and it would be her fault for bringing him. It wasn't fair, first Tailgate, then Cliffjumper, and now… Jack. And there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it.

All this, all these thoughts, emotions, and frustrations, she let out in a single scream.

"JACK!"

* * *

The moonlight fell over the forest, casting long dark shadows across the ground. Jack bounded over fallen trees and rocks on all fours, finding it easier to run like that then on his legs. His claws easily gripped the ground and propelled him forward…but it wasn't enough.

He wasn't going to last much longer, he was getting tired. Every minute he spent running, he found it harder to catch his breath. It was only a matter of time before Airachnid. Jack cursed himself for following Arcee when she told him not too, while sliding behind a tree and pressing his back to it, the bark digging into his skin.

But Jack wasn't like that. He was practically hard wired to help people, and no matter how hard he tried, he wouldn't have left her to face the spider bot alone. She was his partner, weather she wanted to admit it or not. Add the instincts in his head screaming at him to fight and stand, and it was no wonder he'd followed her.

Jack tensed when he heard Airachnids voice echo through the woods, " That's the spirit Jack, play hard to get." she purred. His claws dug into the bark, and suddenly an idea occurred to him.

* * *

Arcee struggled against the webbing that covered her. She had to break free, had to protect Jack. That boy had been through too much for them, done too much for her, for her to let Airachnid get her sick servos on him.

She let out another frustrated yell, as the memories returned, once again.

_She looked forward, optics lacking any form of emotion, at the sharpened claw. The same claw that ended Tailgate, would end her. The only sign of any emotion on Arcee's face, was the stained tears, and slight trembling._

_It was her fault. All her fault, and now he was dead, and soon Arcee would join him._

_As Airachnid prepared to end her pain, a loud explosion ripped through the door, distracting her. Airachnid turned around with a hiss, before fleeing the torture chamber._

_A yellow mech slid into the chamber, blasters firing and offlining any Vehicon in the chamber. Another red mech, entered with a body type similar to Tailgate's though the color and head were different_

_He approached Arcee, and cut the power to her cuffs. She fell to the ground, her legs and will too weak to stand. The yellow bot approached and helped the red one carry her between them._

_"I-I couldn't save him!" she cried as they helped walk her out "I couldn't save my partner."_

Arcee returned to the present, and vented miserably. All her fault. It was all her fault.

"Jack I'm sorry," she whispered "I never should have looked back. Should have kept… Driving." an idea hit her. She grit her denta. She wasn't going to let Airachnid take another partner from her. Not this time. Never again.

* * *

Jack was breathing heavily as he dug his claws into the tree bark, hauling himself higher up the tree. He found it exceptionally easy to scale the massive tree, and was making his way to the lowest branch, well over sixty feet above the ground. He looked down to see Airachnid directly below him, circling the general area, her long spider legs stepping over forest debris as she called out for him.

Shuddering, Jack looked up at the branch, a good ten feet away. He'd have to jump for it, otherwise she might hear his claws digging into the bark. Tensing his muscles, Jack released his claws from the tree and shoved off it.

He soared through the air and grabbed at the branch, his claws wrapping around the branch. With a grunt, Jack heaved himself up onto the thick branch, his tail swaying from side to side, acting as a counterweight and providing surprisingly good balance.

Jack crouched on the branch and looked down at Airachnid, his tail hanging off the edge of the branch, twitching from side to side. Airachnid seemed disappointed, and started walking off in the opposite direction he had come from.

A lucky break if ever he'd had one, Airachnid was going to miss him. Once she was gone, he'd head back down and make his way to Arcee. She could protect him from the crazed spider bot, and then they'd get the pit out of here.

Suddenly, an ear splitting crack filled the air. Jack froze as another soon followed it, and the branch shuddered. Slowly, his head rotated to see the branch of the tree beginning to break. Jack stood up and sprinted towards the tree, but that was a poor choice. The branch split and Jack suddenly found himself plummeting to the ground below.

He clenched his eyes and reached out and sank his claws into the bark of the tree. A grunt of pain shot from his throat as he continued to slide down the tree, his claws barely staying attached. He didn't slide down too far though, before a pair of metal fingers caught him by the tail and pulled him off the tree.

"Hello Jack!" Airachnid greeted, bringing them eye to optic level.

Jack struggled in her grip to no avail, and the spider readjusted her grip so that she was holding him by the waist. Her grip was like iron, oddly fitting, and Jack couldn't get free, even when he tried digging his claws into her servo.

Airachnid chuckled and used her other servo to grab him by the head, "Well, aren't you an interesting creature," she mused, looking at the scaly pattern forming on his face, and the scales running along his chest and arm.

"I didn't think humans could look like this," a smile crossed her face, "Unless of course, you're not entirely human."

Jack froze in her grip and Airachnid grinned, "Either way, those scales of yours are quite stunning. Maybe I won't kill you," she thought aloud, "I think keeping you as a pet would be much more interesting for both of us, don't you agree."

There was no way that Jack was going to be this psychos pet. He was no one's pet! He was _Draconis_, the Ambassador!

A furious roar emanated from Jacks throat, which sounded far from human, and the teen sank his claws into the joint of Airachnid's wrist. He felt something break in her arm and the spider bot yelped, letting him drop to the floor.

Grass and leaves were kicked up as Jack ran on all fours through the forest again, Airachnid chasing after him Airachnid casually shooting webbing at him. The shots missed and hit a tree, as Jack made a sharp left. He kept running through the maze of a forest, trying to outrun Airachnid while the spider-bot was barely putting any effort into actually chasing him, instead choosing to casually stalk let out a blood chilling screech, but Jack ignored it, surging ahead..

Jack saw the ravine he crossed earlier ahead, and silently thanked whoever was watching over him. Pouring more energy into his limbs, Jack jumped and hit the edge of the ravine, scrambling to hold on. His grip started to fail and he began to fall back into the ravine. That is, until he dug his claws into the dirt, stopping him.

He pulled himself up, and continued to run from the crazed femme. He looked over his shoulder as he ran and saw Airachnid easily leap the ravine.

"That is so not fair." he muttered to himself.

Running through the trees, he came to a stop when he saw he had returned to a familiar clearing. And there lying in the middle of it, was Airachnids ship. Seeing no better place to hide, he quickly ran to the front, hiding behind a support pillar for the ramp at the front.

He heard Airachnid approach and stop "Now where did you wander off to?" she asked in mock curiosity.

Jack heard her walk away and let out an uneasy breathe. A cold breeze hit him and he rubbed his arms shivering, "Wish I hadn't lost my pack," he muttered. He looked up the ramp of her ship and shivered. No way he was going in there. He ran out to the side of the ship and made his way to the back.

He heard Airachnid head into her ship, likely searching for him. He picked up the pace, and looked down at the large hill between her ships resting place and the ground. He jumped down below, and began making his way away from the ship.

Something wet and sticky grabbed onto his foot, and Jack looked to see the familiar blue color of Energon leaking from her ship into a small pool.

"Energon?" he muttered. He wiped it off his shoe and rubbed it between his fingers. The stuff was flammable, and if he got it near a heat source… Suddenly an idea hit. He couldn't fight her directly, but if he could lure her here…

Jack bounded up the side of the ship, above the pool of Energon, and hung on with a single claw.

"Hey Airachnid!" he called, his voice echoing through the woods.

Moments later, he heard the sound of metal legs on metal plating and saw Airachnid leap off the edge of her ship into the pool of Energon. She looked around for a few moments, before looking in Jacks direction and letting out a happy hiss.

"Bon Voyage!" he saluted before spreading his claws wide. With a single swipe of his claws, sparks flew from the metal and hit the Energon. He jumped off the ship and rolled forward, ducking behind a large rounded boulder as the Energon ignited.

A massive fireball engulfed the ship, the sound making Jack clamp his claws over his ears. The explosions rippled along the ship, tearing through the metal like tissue paper and capturing Airachnid in the blast. The entire area shook and shuddered from the blast, any trees nearby bending over from the blast.

When it was over, the area was unnaturally quiet, the smoke cloud rising high into the air above them all. Jack peaked out from behind the rock at the smoking wreckage and smiled. No way Airachnid was still alive after that.

Walking out from behind the rock, Jack sat against the rock, bringing his legs close to him. His tail wrapped around them and he sighed happily. Arcee would be happy to know that Airachnid was dead, that she didn't need to be afraid of the femme anymore. After seeing how terrified Arcee was, he decided that he would never let her be that scared again.

Unfurling his tail, Jack stretched his back and yawned. It was late, and sleep sounded like a good prospect. But he needed to find Arcee first.

Walking off, Jack started his way back into the forest when he suddenly heard a familiar sound. Something hard and sticky struck his foot, and he looked down and saw the familiar white webbing that belonged to Airachnid. He looked up and saw, to his horror, the femme still lived, albeit burned and dented.

The spider-bot launched another web at Jack, slamming him into a tree behind him. She jumped down from her position above, and began to approach the boy "I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart you little brat." she snarled.

Jack gulped as the femme approached her and scratched him across the cheek, his skin peeling apart to reveal the scales underneath them. The spiderbot smirked, "Maybe I'll skin you instead, keep that lovely hide of yours as a trophy," she hissed.

At that exact moment though, luck was on Jacks side again, as Arcee's engine roared through the forest and the femme shot through the air. She transformed to robot mode and delivered a swift kick to Airachnids midsection.

Airachnid hissed at Arcee, right as Arcee opened fire on her. In her current state, the spider bot was in no condition to fight. So she chose flight instead.

Jumping into the air, Airachnid began spinning her legs functioning as a drill to dig a deep hole into the ground. Arcee fired at her as she drilled away, but to no avail. Running to the edge of the pit, she fired into the hole after her and snarled.

"Airachnid!" she screeched, right as the femme vanished.

Letting her shoulders sag, Arcee walked over to Jack and yanked the webbing off his chest and leg.

"You alright?" she asked.

Jack rubbed his arm and nodded, "I'm fine," he assured her, "What about you?"

Arcee smiled before looking at the hole "So much for closure." she muttered.

"Now she's stuck here on Earth." Jack said ominously "I'm not sure that's a good thing."

Arcee looked away "Sorry you had to face my demons today Jack," she apologized, before smiling "you were pretty fearless out there." she praised

"Actually I was completely terrified." he said, before adding "Mostly for you."

Arcee smiled and raised a hand to her comm. "Arcee to Base, requesting a ground bridge.

Jack slapped at another mosquito buzzing around him "Need to get my partner away from any oversized insects." she said.

Jack looked up at her with a smile "Partner huh?" he asked slyly, as the bridge opened behind them.

"Junior partner," she said "I still need to be able to pull rank on you." she turned and began to walk towards the bridge.

She suddenly froze and looked at Jack and his…obvious condition.

"Jack, where's your-"

"I lost it," he interrupted with a sigh, "But it doesn't matter. I was going to tell them eventually. Better now than later."

Arcee smiled proudly at him, but stayed quiet, instead walking through the bridge, Jack in close pursuit. Time for the truth to come out…

**A/N: HA! I bet you all thought Jack would go full dragon this chapter! Nope! He's still not close enough to being a full dragon. But don't worry, its coming, and soon. Next chapter is Crisscross, and boy will it have an interesting ending. Any guesses? Let me know in the reviews, and if not, just let me know what you thought of this chapter in the reviews, and tell me if I should continue. One more thing, I wanted to thank all you guys for your support on all my projects, as Heart of Fire just hit 100 reviews! You guys have been so supportive with my stories. It's your support and ideas that keep me going and I just wanted to say thanks. That and, bye!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: And So the Truth Comes Out

Ratchet rubbed his faceplate in annoyance while the bridge swirled in the background. Ever since Bulkhead, Miko, Raf, and Bumblebee had returned from their respective errands, he had spent the entire time trying to contact Arcee and Jack to no avail. Now that he had finally contacted them though, he wanted answers.

As they walked in through the bridge, Jack suddenly came to a stop, seeing the very faint outline of the base. Arcee noticed this and turned back around with a raised optic ridge. Fists clenching, Jack let out a sigh.

"I…I don't know if I can do this Arcee…What if the others…What if they aren't as accepting of this as you are? What if they see me as some sort of freak or mutation? I…" He trailed off, unable to fathom the idea of his friends abandoning him after everything they'd been through. The thought terrified him to no end. He didn't want to be alone. Not again.

Arcee softened her gaze, "Jack, everything will be fine okay? You know as well as I do that we'd never act like that towards you for something like this." she reminded him, "You just need to come out and tell everyone."

"But…"

"And if you don't, I'll grab you by the tail and drag you out into the hall and explain to everyone myself. That sound better?" she threatened.

Jack winced, "…No." he squeaked.

Arcee smiled, "Then get going." she ordered.

Taking a deep breath, Jack nodded and followed Arcee all the way through the portal…to see everybot and human standing there waiting for them. Optimus in particular.

"Arcee, why were we unable to contact you or Jackson during your scouting mission?" the Prime asked her.

Arcee let out a sigh, "Encounter with an old enemy Optimus. We're both fine, but…There's something Jack needs to show you."

The others looked confused when she said that and exchanged looks. Optimus first nodded at Arcee's explanation, knowing who she was likely referring to, and then raising an optic ridge. Arcee stepped aside and let Jack walk into room.

Dead silence filled the room.

Everyone looked at the teen with wide eyes and optics, trying to make sense of what they saw. Jacks entire torso now was covered in scales, along with his right arm and part of his left arm. Scales started trailing up his neck, and a few were sticking through below his chin.

A scaly pattern could be seen on his face, and his eyes were split down the middle instead of circular. Jutting from his forehead were two small horns about an inch or two at the base, and curving back a good four inches. And of course, his scaled tail twitched back and forth behind him nervously.

Finally, Raf broke the silence, "J-Jack!? Is that you!?"

He bowed his head and nodded, "Yeah Raf…it's me…"

"What in the pit happened out there!?" Ratchet demanded, looking to Arcee.

She just motioned to Jack and everyone focused on him. The boy just hung his head lower, hating the looks while his tail wrapped around his legs. He knew this would happen, the stares and shocked horror…he knew it!

Optimus looked at his fellow Autobots, the humans, and then at Jack. The teen had his shoulders hunched up and his fists clenched tightly. His entire body trembled ever so slightly, barely noticeable. But the Prime noticed.

"Jack," said teen's head shot up to see Optimus kneeling down in front of him, "We're not judging you. We just want to know, what happened to put you in this condition? We're you hurt?"

Gulping, Jack shook his head, "N-no…I wasn't. This is all perfectly natural for me…" he muttered, barely loud enough for all to hear.

"This is normal for humans!?" Ratchet yelled, far louder than he should have.

Jack winced at the medics shock and shook his head, "No, not for humans Ratchet. Only for me… Only for the Ambassador."

Raf and Miko exchanged shocked looks while the bots just looked confused, "The what now?" Bulkhead asked, Bee buzzing in agreement.

"The Ambassador, a specially born human who is supposed to act as the bridge between humans and dragons," Jack explained, "Only one ever lives at a time. The last one died in 1914…100 years ago."

"Wait, human and Dragon," Bulkhead said, "Then that means…"

"Dude!" Miko yelled, "You're the next Ambassador!? Why didn't you tell us!?"

"Because I never wanted to be," Jack said, sitting on the ground cross legged. His legs were exhausted from all the running.

"Never wanted… Dude! You're going to be a freaking dragon! How could you not want to be that!" Miko argued.

"There's more to what I'm going to become then that Miko!" Jack snarled, his tail lashing angrily, "I'm going to be the only thing that keeps humans and dragons from going to war again! The last time that happened we nearly wiped each other out! How do you think it'll end this time around!?"

Miko fell silent and Jack snorted, "Exactly."

"Hold on, these Dragon creatures are real?" Ratchet asked with obvious suspicion.

"Very real Ratchet. They're a huge part of human history," Jack told him, "It's just after my…predecessor was assassinated, the dragons left and went into hiding, waiting for the next Ambassador to be born." he sighed and bowed his head, "Lucky me."

His tail draped across his legs and he rested a hand on it, sighing, "And now you know what I am."

Ratchet looked at Optimus, "What do we do now Optimus?" he asked.

The Prime frowned looking at Jack, who was examining his tail fins, before sighing, "For now, we should let Jackson return home. We will discuss this turn of events tomorrow after Arcee has given me her field report."

"Arcee," she nodded, "I know, I'll take him home." she transformed to bike mode, and Jack looked from her to himself, "Well… unless you have my shirt in there somewhere-"

"Backpacks in my subspace," she interrupted. So that's where it went!

Giving the femme a suspicious glare, Jack reached into her subspace and pulled out his backpack. His tail wrapped around his waist and he pulled out his gloves and shirt, donning both of them. Ignoring the scales on his face and horns, he looked almost normal.

Hopping on, Jack placed his helmet on and looked up at the others, "Thanks…" he thought for a moment, "Thanks for everything guys." he said, and Arcee roared off through the entrance, leaving the bots and their allies to digest what they'd just seen…

* * *

The forest was silent, no sounds could be heard. Only the occasional sounds of animals calling could be heard. This was a blissful, peaceful silence, one few humans ever experience.

Unfortunately the silence was ended by the sound of footsteps and the jingle of gear. Several men were wondering through the forest, their rifles swinging from side to side. Each man was covered in green body armor, faces included.

All but one, their commander, Silas, the leader of MECH. He was dressed in the standard body armor, except that he wore no mask, only a pair of night vision goggles. He and his men were investigating a possible Cybertronian distress beacon.

While they had learned much from their capture of the Decepticon Breakdown, they had been unable to hold onto the con, due to interference from the Autobots. The loss had hurt MECH's supply of troops, but had also gained them invaluable knowledge on the interworkings of the giant metal men.

Silas paused for a moment, scanning the area "Remember" he reminded his men "suppressive fire only, we want to take this one alive." he then proceeded on point, his men close behind him.

Their laser sights crisscrossed the darkness, looking like a hellish spider web constantly moving through the night air. The visibility of the night itself was good, it was nearly a full moon, and the silhouettes of the men themselves stretched long and thin across the ground.

A sudden dark shape darted behind him, and the men twisted around, Silas firing a shot from his laser rifle. He missed, but saw the shape move in the tree's faster than any Earth creature could. He fired another shot in the tree's just missing, and blasting a neat hole through the upper tree trunk.

His men began firing every time they saw the shadowy creature, but each time it successfully dodged their assaults. One of his men, fired at the creature as it began to flee, causing a small explosion that knocked over a tree, and sent up dust everywhere.

Silas chased after the creature in pursuit, his men following closely. If it thought it could get away from him, it had another thing coming. He and his men came to a stop over a ravine. There was no sign of the creature, but the goggles Silas wore could detect its energy signature.

"Tight formation" he ordered, and he slid down the ravine, his men following him closely.

They slowly walked into the canyon, each man covering their blind spots. Silas looked was aware of his environment, and was shocked by the various large spider webs crossing the canyon. Something big had made those webs, and he had a pretty good idea of what.

He and his men followed the trackers in their goggles, slowly approaching the beacon. Without warning though, the signal vanished from their trackers. Silas motioned for his men to stop. Something was wrong, it was almost as if this was a…

Suddenly, several thick strands of webbing shot down from above and hauled Silas's men screaming into the air. Silas looked up and saw all three men caught in a massive spider web dangling like flies.

He heard the sound of a metallic hiss and looked up to see a large Cybertronian with black body armor, and purple soulless eyes. She, for it was clearly female, had several extra legs supporting her in the air. She took a swipe at him, and Silas dodged firing off a shot.

He missed, and before he could fire again, the spider bot grabbed hold of his weapon, and lifted him into the air. The weapons sparked as she crushed it, and she flung the man into the canyon wall. Before he could slide back down, she shot a strand of webbing at him, and stuck him to the wall.

The femme quickly crawled up the side of the wall until her fanged face was mere feet from Silas's. She began stroking the side of his face like a dog as she spoke "Don't tell me MECH never considered that an open channel distress signal from an injured might be a trap."

"I'll bear that in mind next time." Silas said coolly.

Airachnid chuckled "Next time? Decepticon chatter is all about the work over you gave poor Breakdown. As an ex con myself, I really should eviscerate you for that." she paused to let her threat sink in.

The info about what had happened to Breakdown had been ingrained with the info on Cliffjumper. Barely a day after arriving on earth and the idiot was captured and torn open by humans.

Go figure.

Silas simply wore a neutral expression "But," she continued " an old acquaintance and her nasty little human, destroyed my ship and skinned my knee."

Airachnids optics narrowed "I mean to pay them back in kind. Both of them."

Her faceplate moved closer to Silas' face "You see, I may get in and out of places most Decepticons can't, but I'm still learning to navigate this planet."

"What's in it for MECH?" Silas asked rather boldly.

"I'll let you live." she growled.

She thought for a moment before continuing "And since you came to collect a 'transformer' was it? I'll throw in whatever's left of Arcee… After I've broken her."

Silas only thought about Airachnid's proposal for a moment "You have a deal."

The spider-bot smiled "Good, then I suggest you get to work."

* * *

"Thanks for walking me home Jack." Arcee joked as Jack rolled her up the drive way "You're a real gentleman."

"I wouldn't want you revved up before bed would I?" he said jokingly.

He stopped in front of the garage, and walked forward to open it. Technically he was past curfew, but mom never got home before 12:00 at the earliest, so he figured he was safe for now. Not his fault a giant psychotic spider-bot wanted to turn him into her pet.

Jack shook his head as the memories of the night passed, and opened the garage door up, turning to Arcee while he did "Mom's should be out working, and I don't think she'd understand-"

"Understand what Jack? You breaking curfew for the third time this month?" the angry voice of June Darby asked.

Jack froze and silently cursed before turning to face the wrath of his mother. He immediately regretted it, she had a look on her face that would make Decepticons run in fear.

"Mom!" he took a surprised step back and felt his tail tighten around his waist

"Or why your boss called about you missing another shift at work?" she scowled, "Or maybe the email I received from your art history teacher who's been concerned you've been falling asleep in class."

Jack winced as she brought that up. He may have missed one or two shifts at work, but he didn't see the harm in it. As for art history, well, it was art history.

"Well, ugh, two words mom, Art and history." he explained. Why it was a required course was beyond him.

June looked at him worriedly "Tell me the rumors aren't true Jack" his mother asked, her tone switching from anger to concern "Tell me your not racing that motorcycle?"

"No, no wait, wait, where did you hear that?" he asked. He thought the rumor had already died down.

"Small town, people talk" she explained, all the anger having left her voice.

Her face hardened and the anger immediately returned "I work in an emergency room Jack I've seen what can happen. So please, tell me you haven't fallen in with a bad crowd."

"What? No, my friends are the good crowd, seriously good." he protested. If only she knew.

June looked at Arcee "I let you have that bike because you convinced me you were mature enough to handle it. But I think you may need a gently reminder." she firmly said.

Jack gulped, "Message received now mom, I'm glad we had this talk." he said before she could begin, hoping she wouldn't say what he was fearing.

"I meant," she started "let's see how a few weeks without the distraction of your motorcycle will do to remind you."

Jacks eyes widened in shock "But-" he started.

"No buts mister, two weeks without your motorcycle, and no powers either." she stated.

"What, but mom that's not fair!" he yelled and his tail started to loosen its grip.

"Your grounded from everything except school or work, and if you want to take a bike to either, you'll pedal." June said with a note of finality.

Jack shivered at the memory of the ten speed he used to ride. Even before he met Arcee he loathed the thing. It was one of the things in his life he hated with a passion, it was so slow, and so stupid looking.

June snapped her fingers in front of him "Serious face Jack, if I see that motorcycle out of the garage…"

She never finished, but Jack had a pretty good idea. Junes anger softened and she gave her son a soft kiss on the forehead "Now go bring the bike in the garage, wash up, and get some sleep." with that she walked to her own bedroom for tonight.

"I love you." she said as she walked away.

Jack sighed and moved to bring Arcee into the garage. Once inside it and closing it, he let his tail unfurl and wave behind him, " I'll miss you while your grounded." she teased.

"Don't worry Arcee, I'll visit you every day." he promised

"Ugh Jack, I won't be here" she explained "sitting on my fat tires for two weeks is not an option."

"No, no, you heard how serious mom was look Arcee I feel bad enough I've had to lie to her for the past months, but if you're not here she's going to think I'm blowing her off." Jack said slight panic in his voice. His tail nearly knocked over the materials on the work table.

"Deep breathes Jack." Arcee said calmly, trying to keep the teen from hyper ventilating "Your mom works late nights, I'll try to be back in the garage before she gets home."

Jack let out a sigh of relief "But," she added "no promises."

Pinching his nose, Jack nodded. It was going to be a _long _two weeks…

* * *

Jack sighed frustrated by how dull his life had become in the past two days as he exited work. Being grounded from Arcee, and base had pretty much destroyed his social life. He still hung out with Raf and Miko at school of course, but every time he watched them leave with their guardians reminded him of what he was missing. And all the while they pestered him, or rather Miko pestered him, about what it was like to have scales, a tail, and horns (Which he hid under a well placed head of hair or hat). But that wasn't the worst part.

No the worst part was not being able to ride with Arcee, to talk with her down the open highway. The talks were, in his opinion, the best part of the day, and he already missed them. They helped him get over the drama that had consumed him, literally, with his new position as the Ambassador. His bike, was not a great conversationalist.

Jack was getting on said ten-speed, when his phone rang. He looked at the caller ID, and to his panic, saw it was his mom "Hey mom." he squeaked.

"Hey, Jack" she greeted "hope you're not eating takeout, I took my break early so I could cook a wholesome meal for my grounded son." she said cheerfully.

Jack gagged slightly before responding, "O-organic tofu, awesome." he stuttered "hey, car beats ten-speed I'll a, I'll be home soon, bye love you." he hung up and immediately dialed Arcee.

"Come on pickup, pick up." he pleaded. He put the figurative pedal to the metal and raced down the road as fast as he could.

"Yes Jack?" Arcee sighed over the line.

"Arcee!" he cried, relieved "You wouldn't happen to be in the garage right now would you?" he asked hopefully.

"That's a negative Jack" she replied "Can we talk about this later?"

Jack heard the sound of blaster fire in the background _'Great' _he thought.

"No!" he yelled as he raced down the street, careful not to go to fast, otherwise the chain would break, stupid bike, " Mom's on her way home. If you don't race back their right now, I will be grounded for life, and mom will make me sell you for parts."

Jack heard more blaster fire, before he got a reply "Bee can you handle it?" Jack heard several beeps and whirrs "Ratchet I need a bridge" Arcee said, and the line went dead.

"Hello?" he asked "Arcee? Aw scrap!" he cursed as he sped around the corner, and saw his moms car pulled into the driveway.

Jack pulled into the driveway, when he heard his moms voice roar "JAACK!".

_'Oh scrap.'_ he thought as he saw his mom storm out of the house, still dressed in her nurses attire. Part dragon or not… her face terrified him.

The look on her face was one of pure rage and disappointment "Jackson William Darby! I cannot believe you disobeyed me! _Where_ is the motorcycle!?" she demanded arms on her hips.

"Ugh…" Jack started, when he saw the familiar green glow of the ground bridge opening behind her "What do you mean? She's right where I left her." he said as he activated the automated garage opener.

June turned around, and to her shock, the bike was their parked and everything. She shook herself and turned back to Jack, arms crossed "Did you get one of your crew to sneak it in? Or did you just walk it up again?" she demanded

Jack let out a sigh "Okay mom… do you really want to know?" he asked. He saw Arcee twitch in the background, warning him not to. His mom gave him an expectant look.

"Fasten your seatbelt." he muttered as he stood up, getting off the demon bike " My motorcycle is a sentient robotic organism from a distant planet part of a team stationed here, on Earth fighting a secret war. And, I spend most of my time after school hanging with her crew." he explained without taking a breath.

"Jack…" she sighed

"An-and the coolest thing…" he continued, "_This_ isn't her actual form! She's actually a giant robot that can transform into a vehicle!"

"Enough Jack." she said.

"It's ok, Arcee," he said, "Show yourself." the bike remained motionless.

"Sh-she's shy," Jack stuttered, his face turning slightly red, and his tail shifting under his shirt, "A-Arcee…"

"Really, no more lies, no more hiding." he said, turning to the femme. June just looked at her draconic son sadly.

"Come on, rollout already." he growled, very lightly kicking her tire. Still nothing.

The teen sagged his shoulders in defeat "So" June started "um…the bad crowd you've been hanging out with…is a science fiction club?" she asked.

Jack looked at the floor, resisting the urge to leave Arcee with a few new battle scars.

June walked up and put a hand on her son's shoulder "Look, Jack I know things have been tough for you. I know that the pressure of things to come has put a lot on you, and your changes," she patted his tail, which he'd shown her the following morning of his grounding, "Can't have made it easy. But you don't need to make up stories like this."

Jack just looked away, and she sighed looking at her watch "I have to get back to work, will continue this discussion later." and she got back into her car, to drive off.

"Thanks for the support partner." he grumbled after June pulled out of the driveway.

"You know the-"

"I know," he growled, "Rules!" and stormed into his house, his tail slipping out as he slammed the door on it.

"OW!"

* * *

Silas sat in the darkened room watching the video taken from her ships black box. Airachnid was watching the screen as well in eager anticipation. The sooner she got her talons on that boy for what he did, and into his hide, the sooner her revenge would be complete.

"Your ships black box sustained serious damage in the explosion" Silas explained "But our software was able to reconstruct a few frames from the security frame."

The footage stopped and zoomed in on a teenage boy, with onyx hair, blue eyes, and a light tan "That's him," Airachnid said "my Jack."

"Our facial recognition algorithm will send Jacks image across the web." he paused and looked at the spider bot "Another kind of web." he said in disgust.

A beep from the terminal got his attention again "Ah, the mother lode" he said in triumphant.

"Government database?" Airachnid asked.

"Social networking page, everything worth knowing about Jack Darby is right here." he explained "Age 16, Jasper, Nevada. Mother: June Darby, a nurse."

He turned to two soldiers "You know what to do." he said, and the two saluted. One way or another, they would get Jack Darby right where they wanted him.

Airachnid scuttled off somewhere into the base, and Silas returned his attention to the screen. Something seemed familiar about the boy…no, it couldn't…

Silas' fingers flew over the keyboard and another familiar picture, footage from the attempt to steal the DYNGUS, appeared on screen. More specifically, the distorted reptilian face. It was almost an exact match.

"Well, well, well," Silas leaned back in his chairs and intertwined his fingers while staring at the screen, "It seems that fate has delivered you to us again, Ambassador. _Mortem ad omnes Draconis."_

* * *

June walked through the now empty parking lot, thoughts on the conversation with her draconic son from earlier that day "Maybe I'm being too hard on Jack" she said to herself "but he lied, and the only way he's gonna learn is if I stick to my guns."

A solid black van suddenly pulled up beside her, door opening to reveal a man with a gun pointed at her.

"Telegram!" he shouted, and shocked the nurse, knocking her unconscious.

He pulled her into the van and restrained her, climbing back into the front seat. His partner gave him a weird look "What?" he asked.

"Really, that's the best you could come up with Griff?" his partner asked.

"Know what, screw you Simmons, I didn't hear you come up with anything better!" Griff retorted.

"You had like three hours to come up with what to say, and the best you could come up with was _telegram_? Seriously!?" Simmons said. The rest of the drive was spent with the two bickering over one liners.

* * *

Jack coasted down the street to his house, not looking forward to the "chat" his mom had promised him the night before. He had told her the straight truth and she didn't believe him. Now that he thought about it… Why she didn't believe him didn't make sense, after all, he was turning into a dragon for pete sake! What was so hard in believing his motorcycle could turn into a giant robot!?

Jack sighed as he pulled into the drive way, and noticed something odd. No sign of his moms car. She was probably working late, so he shrugged and opened the garage, smiling when he saw Arcee parked there.

"Arcee, is mom home yet?" he asked, letting his tail unfurl and wave behind him, "I didn't see her car."

"Dunno," was her reply "I just bridged from base beat her here. Oh and there's a package for you." she said pointing her handle bars at a manila envelope on the table.

He turned the package over, and a small device that looked similar to his old game boy spilled out.

It suddenly turned on with a beep "Hello Jack" a deep voice greeted. It sounded very familiar to the teen.

Arcee transformed behind him, an angry look on her faceplate "Silas" she growled.

"S-silas!?" Jack asked alarm "What does he want? What's going on?"

"MECH" Arcee hissed.

Jack felt his blood go cold "They know where I live!?" he asked, his voice cracking slightly.

"We know things about your family that even you don't know," he said, his voice mocking "For example; do you know where your mother is?"

Jack felt the coldness in his veins replaced by the heat of fury, "What did you do." he growled, causing Arcee to rest a servo on his shoulder. He looked up at the femme and she shook her head. Now wasn't the time for anger. Jack's rage dulled to a simmer.

"Understand, Jack," Silas said, "We have no intention of hurting her…In fact, we'd like to reunite the two of you as soon as possible."

"Uh huh, what's the catch?" he asked, wanting to get this scrap over with.

There was a tsking noise over the comm. "I just need you and Arcee to follow the coordinates programmed into this communicator, they'll lead you to the temporary facility I've set up," Silas said.

Arcee put a servo to her comm. "Ratchet" she whispered "I…"

She was cut off when a sharp pain entered her processor, and caused her to grasp her helm as she began to yell in pain.

"Arcee!" Jack cried as he put a hand on her shoulder, trying to provide whatever comfort to her pain.

"Oh I'm sorry," Silas said, not sounding the least bit sincere, "Did I not mention that the communicator's signal scrambles our signal…and her brain?"

"Monster!" Jack hissed. His tail lashed back and forth angrily.

"Any break in communication or attempt to contact the other Autobots and Miss Darby…Well…I wouldn't want you two to feel responsible for the outcome." Silas finished. The communicator shut off, and the pain in Arcee's processor stopped.

Jack stared at the communicator in anger, wanting to do nothing more than crush it in his hand. But he couldn't he needed it to rescue his mom.

"Arcee…" he began, but she was one step ahead of him.

She transformed to vehicle mode "Hop on." she said, and Jack did. The two took off, heading to go save his mother.

As the two roared down the street, Jack felt his grip tighten and tears sting his eyes, "If anything happens to her because of my connection to all this," he whispered "I…"

"Jack," Arcee said, reassuringly, "MECH is only after me, once they get what they want…they'll let your mom go."

"That's not exactly reassuring," he snapped, then let his voice soften, "You're family too."

Jack knew it sounded cheesy, but it felt right. Arcee and the bots had become more than protectors or friends, they'd become family to him. A very large metal family, but a family still.

Arcee herself was touched by Jack's sentiment. The boy could be very kind and mature, when he kept his temperature under control.

"Make a left" he said suddenly.

"Hang on." the femme growled and turned sharply, Jacks knee only slightly brushing the street.

Jack looked at their destination, and saw it was an abandoned cement plant. We slowed in front of the main building, I put the communicator devil device in my back pocket. A tiny dot of ruby light appeared on my grey shirt. Then another, and another… Snipers, the fragging bastard had snipers pointed at him.

He gripped Arcee's handlebars tightly, "So what's the plan?" he asked voice low.

"The usual," she growled.

"I hate that plan." he whined.

Arcee revved her engine and sped up, passing through the ranks of MECH soldiers. Jack lowered himself, the bullets missing him by mere centimeters. He could _feel _the air from the near misses!

The two came screeching into the warehouse Jack practically jumping off Arcee, "Mom!?" he called.

"Looking for June?" a dark, sadistic female voice asked, "She's hanging around here _somewhere_."

Jack whirled around to see Airachnid attached to the ceiling grinning at him sadistically. Arcee transformed, placing herself between the boy and the spider-bot.

"Airachnid." she growled.

The femme smirked in delight, before firing webbing at Arcee, sticking her arms to her side. Jack ran up to Arcee's side to see if she was okay. The femme just waved her helm away, wanting him to keep his distance.

"What are _you_ doing here." Jack snarled at the femme. Their last encounter he had been terrified of her. But right now, nothing but rage and fury filled him. He would tear her apart if it was the last thing he did.

About a dozen or so MECH soldiers rushed into the warehouse, standing by the femme un afraid. They pointed their rifles at Jack and Arcee, and he was powerless to do anything, as long as they had his mom.

Arcee looked at a large grizzled man with scars running across his face "Help them," she pleaded, "They're human, like you! You can't let Airachnid…!"

"A few human lives are a small price to pay for a miracle of science like yourself," Silas said coolly as he nodded to one of the soldiers.

The soldier lifted a gun and fired a stream of electricity into Arcee. She gave a short scream and fell to the concrete floor, unconscious.

"And besides, MECH only fights for the safety of humanity," his eyes looked to Jack, "Not its traitors." he growled.

"Trai-What!?" how on earth was Jack a traitor to humanity!? Because he was related to the bots in some way? Was that it!?

"Oh don't play dumb Jack, its unbecoming of you," Silas said, and motioned for his men to grab him by the arms, and more specifically the wrists.

"Hey what are you-"

"Enough games, I know what you are Jack," Silas said, walking up to the boy and nodded to his men, who ripped his gloves off. Both his hands were covered in deep blue, silver scales now, the talons curving wickedly.

"Ambassador."

Jack gulped as Silas glared at him, "I've known of your existence for a time now Ambassador," Silas said, and rubbed a finger across his cheek, smearing his makeup off, "And while you've hidden that abomination you call a body well, MECH has hunted your kind for thousands of years. And one hundred years ago, we finally disposed of them permanently by killing your predecessor."

Silas chuckled at the wide eyed look on Jacks face, "Yes, we were the ones who killed the Ambassador all those years ago. That thing did not deserve to live. It was an abomination and a traitor to the human race, much like you. For you see Jack, before MECH began to procure the most advanced tech, we hunted and killed dragons."

Jacks shock was replaced with anger, and his tail unfurled from its hiding spot, "Monsters!" he hissed.

"Who are the real monsters _Ambassador? _The beings protecting their race from a race of territorial and egotistical giant lizards? Or the lizards themselves." Silas asked.

Jack glared at Silas while also wondering how he would call for backup, when an idea struck him.

"I'm still learning about humankind," Airachnid interrupted, stalking forwards, "But one thing is clear to me Jack…you people care deeply about family. Therefore the sweetest revenge I could _possibly_ devise is to make you _watch_ as I take your family _apart_."

"If you hurt my mother I'll…" he threatened, his lips baring into a snarl.

"You remember how much I enjoy sport, don't you, Jack?" she asked, "So I'll give you the opportunity to _save_ your mother. I've stashed her close by…"

Jack mentally groaned as he heard what sounded like a timer beeping behind him. He turned to look and saw a timer counting down to midnight. Now he knew what the catch was.

"If you can rescue her before the stroke of twelve…" Airachnid purred, "I will let both of you go, unharmed. Deal?"

"And if I can't?" he snarled.

She smirked, her cloying alto laugh reverberating through my frame, "What do you think?" she asked sarcastically.

Jack realized now was the perfect time to execute his plan. He walked up to Silas and pounded his fist on his chest. Jack was by no means short, in fact he stood almost six feet tall, but Silas was a mountain of a man, making Jacks relatively thin form seem even more pathetic. Exactly his plan.

"Please" he begged "Don't let her do this! Take me, but please let my mom go! She didn't want to get involved in this!"

Silas shoved Jack back, and the boy fell on his rear, adding to the performance, "Enough" he growled in disgust, "If your mother was truly innocent, she would have killed you when she found out what you were. But that said, I did promise the Cybertronian a chance at revenge. So I'd best get moving if I were you."

Airachnid looked at the timer, "Six minutes!" she said, wonderingly.

Jack immediately stood up and ran out of the warehouse "MOM!?" he cried as he ran "MOM!?"

He began frantically searching for his mom, calling her every few seconds, hoping for some sort of response. Nothing. He climbed atop cargo boxes, and ran across them, looking for anything that might give her away. Even resorting to loping on all fours and smelling the air for her.

Suddenly, something landed behind him and Jack turned to see Airachnid standing casually on a large container. Jack glared at her, and the bot smirked, pointing to his mother, dangling dozens of feet above the ground in a webbed cocoon.

"MOM!" he cried, and ran to her on all fours. Seeing her so high up, Jack really wished he had wings instead of a tail. Still, he jumped up and caught hold of the first bar, heaving himself over it. He repeated the process, easily scaling the large structure his mother dangled from.

Airachnid smiled "So there's more to you than meets the eye Jack. I wonder, what lengths will you go to ensure your mothers survival?"

Jack frantically began pulling at the webbing encasing his mom, but like before, the material was frustratingly hard to cut through on the metal platform. His talons were failing again.

At this time though, his mother had woken up "Jack!? Jack what are you doing here? Who are these people? How did I get in this stuff?" she asked

"Don't worry mom." Jack said as the webbing finally began to peel away "I'm going to get you out."

A large metal spike tipped leg slammed on the large canister nearby, and the black and purple form of Airachnid crawled into view, chuckling sadistically.

"Jack?" his mom asked stunned "The robots are real?"

Jack stood up and stared the femme down "I beat your dead line!" he yelled at the metal spider.

Airachnid laughed again before answering "Afraid not Jack" she sneered "The task was not for you to _find_ your mother by midnight, you had to_rescue_her…and time's up! Now…"

"Take a seat," Airachnid purred as she prepared to cause his mother to drop, "Sit back…and _enjoy_ the horror show."

"STAY AWAY FROM HER!" Jack roared, his voice echoing over the factory. Airachnid froze and June looked up at her son with shock. The power and strength behind that roar…it was stunning.

Airachnid shook it off and glared at Jack, before shooting a blast of webbing at his mouth and hand, holding him in place. He screamed at her anyway, but the webbing kept him silent.

"You know June," Airachnid turned back to the woman, and brushed a servo under her chin, "Jack is an incredibly interesting specimen. When I first met him I thought his unusual traits were common place, but now that I've gotten a good look at you, I know this is not true."

June didn't respond, just stared at the giant spider, trying her best to hide her fear, and not doing a very good job.

"And while Silas has told me of Earth's very own Predacons, or_ 'Dragons', _as you call them, I still find it interesting that Jack would display some of their physical traits. Which leads me to consider two possibilities."

"Like what?" June said defiantly.

"A. Jack's current condition is the result of his exposure to some sort of mutagenic elements left sitting around by that joke of a Medic the Autobots have...Or..." she paused for dramatic effect.

"B. You have very unusual tastes when it comes to males." she smirked.

June blinked, not quite sure what the giant spider was implying, until her eyes widened in shock, and embarrassment, before narrowing in indignation.

"Jack's father was _human_ thank you very much!" she snapped.

"Hmph. Sure about that? All physical evidence points to the contrary." the spider snorted with another smirk, then continued "You don't have to be ashamed June, We all have our..._unique tastes_...Who or _what_ you choose to interface with in order to sire offspring is your business, after all. If you were desperate enough to turn to a Dragon when no human male would have you? Well, that's your choice, I won't judge."

"You bitch!" June hissed, making the spider chuckle.

"At least I know where he got his fiery personality from," she purred, and raised her servo at the webbing holding June up.

"Now then Jack," Airachnid looked at the dragon child, "time for your mother to take a nice long fall." and she reached out to cut through the webbing.

Before she could, an engine revving split the air, and the blue form of Arcee slammed into Airachnid, right as Jack freed himself, snarling. The two engaged each other, while Jack began freeing his mother, this time with more success, as the webbing tore free, finally starting to lose its adhesiveness.

"Jack? Your motorcycle?" June asked.

"I can explain mom." he paused and grinned "Wait I already did."

He finally broke the webbing, and pulled his mom up onto the platform "Hold still" he ordered, and she nodded.

Slipping a claw under the webbing, Jack heaved with all the strength available to him and found the webbing parting like so many stalks of grass. When he reached the end though, a spike of pain shot through his back and he nearly fell to the ground.

He shook it off right as his mother embraced him, making another less severe spike of pain shoot through him, " I will never doubt you again." she said and then looked at him more seriously "These robots do they…"

"Yes…" Jack nodded, "They know what I am…"

June sighed, "And?"

"They won't tell anyone, I promise," he assured her.

"Okay," June said, "But when this is over, you're explaining everything mister."

* * *

Jack sat with June back on solid ground, an arm wrapped around her in a reassuring hug. She had a blanket on her shoulders, and was looking down at the ground, still processing everything she had seen.

After Jack had rescued her, Arcee had managed to temporarily incapacitate Airachnid using quick dry cement. It had been short lived, but the con had been force to retreat when the backup Jack had called arrived in the form of Agent Fowler, who managed to get his vehicle scanned by Airachnid again, allowing her to escape.

After that, Jack had _very _quickly hid his tail and readjusted his makeup and hair to hide his features. His hands were back in their gloves, hiding his talons. If Fowler knew what he was…his life was over.

Speak of the devil, Agent Fowler approached the two, " Mrs. Darby, I'm Special Agent William Fowler. It's time you knew the truth…for the past several months, Jack has been ah…interning for me at the agency."

June just glared at the agent, before Jack took over, "Agent Fowler… Mom's not going to buy that." he sighed.

"He's got that right." she growled, continuing to glare at the agent.

A soldier approached the agent "Agent Fowler…" he started.

"Let me guess, without a trace?" he finished. The soldier nodded and the Agent cursed, mumbling under his breath as he walked away.

The sound of metal footsteps caught the attention of the two, and they turned to Arcee, who kneeled to their level. Jack stood in front of her, another bit of pain lancing through his back.

He ignored it and looked at his mother, "And she would be your?" June asked.

"Motorcycle, Guardian, Autobot, friend." he explained as he put a reassuring hand on his partners knee.

"Call me Arcee." the femme said.

June stood up, and Jack moved out of the way so the two could talk "Thank you, Arcee." she said, smiling lightly. Arcee smiled back, before Jack approached his mom.

"I think it's time for that ride you made me promise." Jack said grinning.

* * *

The ride to the mesa had been quick and quiet, June having nothing to say, Jack simply waiting for the reaction she would have. He still got those pains in his back, but he ignored them for the most part. Introducing June to the bots was more important than his personal comfort.

They approached the mesa, and the secret entrance slowly broke open, allowing the three access. They drove along the tunnel, engine noise echoing off the wall. They finally drove into the hangar, and Arcee slowly came to a stop.

June looked in wonder at the large metal men before her. Bulkhead and Bee were standing by some crates, talking to Miko and Raf, and the four turned to look at the new arrival. Ratchet turned from his console as well, examining Jack's mother.

Loud thunderous footsteps filled the hangar, and Jack had to bite back a laugh as his mom looked up and up and up at the massive form of Optimus Prime.

Jack took off his helmet, "Mom" he said with a wave of his hand, "meet my science fiction club."

The four bots stood before her, and June did the only thing that came to mind. She gave a slight wave.

"So…this is where you've been," she finally said to Jack as he walked around to her side.

He smiled sheepishly, "Well..yeah I guess I- GAH!" the pain this time was incredibly painful, and Jack fell on his side, screaming in pain while scrabbling at the floor.

All intro's were forgotten as June rushed to her sons side, "Jack!? Jack!" she cried, trying to get him to calm down.

Her words barely reached his ears though, the pain in his back, especially by his shoulder pads multiplying by a factor of ten. He couldn't register anything, except that the pain was traveling through the rest of his body. That, and June was saying something about him bleeding, and needing to get his shirt off.

Cool air brushed against his scales as his shirt was torn off, and Jack screamed as loud as he could, arching his back as something burst from his back and everyone gasped in shock. Jack wasn't sure why except that he was being hit with a nice cool breeze now and maintaining consciousness was getting harder and harder…

His last thought before blacking out, was that while the breeze was nice…there was no wind in the Autobot base…

**A/N: So, what did you guys think of my second rendition of Crisscross? Good, bad, meh? Was Silas slimy enough for you guys? Were the bot reactions to Jack being the Ambassador up to snuff? Do you want me to continue working on this story? All these questions and more you can answer in the reviews, or by PMing me. Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and chou!**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Changes

As Jack slowly faded into consciousness, the first thing he noticed was that he was lying on something cool and hard. The second was that he was on his bare stomach against the surface and that the horrendous pain in his back was nothing more than a dull throb that was slowly fading with every passing second.

He was vaguely aware of the worried voices of his mom and Ratchet, nothing more than dull booms to his disoriented ears. He felt something cool and moist pressed against his back, swabbing the blood that had accumulated there, and removing it from the strange set of appendages he felt on his back.

Opening his eyes was not something Jack intended to do anytime soon. He just wanted to relax into the soft, sweeping strokes of the wash cloths on his aching joints and tender scales. The pain and soreness he felt there no longer overwhelming his senses.

Slowly, the world around him began to light up and come into focus, Junes worried face in particular coming into view, saying something. Her voice sounded far away and hidden, but he was able to make it out, "…Jack? Jack can you hear me!?" she asked worriedly.

Blinking a few times, Jack nodded, "Yeah…I can hear you…" he groaned, trying to push himself up.

"Easy, easy," June ordered, slowing his rise, "You just went through a lot of changes Jack."

He felt another breeze hit his bare back and shivered, "Can someone get me a shirt, the breeze is freezing in here."

A look of apprehension passed over Junes face, and she looked at the others, "Well you see Jack…I don't think any of your shirts would fit you right now."

"What? What do you mean?" he asked, his tail twitching back and forth.

June looked up at Ratchet who nodded and pulled a small mirror, by bots size, out of his subspace, "Like I said…you went through another change."

The medic lowered the mirror in front of Jack and the boy froze at what he saw. His mom wasn't kidding when she said he had changed again. He just…hadn't expected it to this extreme.

The scales across his body had grown overlapping of each other, like layers of armor on a night, completely engulfing his torso and arms. A few scales also trailed up either side of his face, and his ears were now pointed.

His horns…oh his horns. They had grown huge, curving out from his forehead and around the sides of his head, a good foot in length. Tiny ridges ran up each one, barely noticeable from a distance.

But what did Jack notice most, the most painfully obvious change? Sprouting from his back were two bat-like wings, making up a total wing span of about eight feet. Small little fingers extended from the main frame, with a thin semi-transparent silvery blue membrane stretched between them.

His wings stretched and flexed, occasionally flapping lightly, stirring up air. Jack just stared at himself dumbstruck, "I…I have wings!?"

"Two wings, each roughly four feet in length," Ratchet said, frowning, "Not enough to create lift, as for the moment they are very underdeveloped."

Jack turned around to look at his tail and wings, still frowning, "I…I can't hide these. This isn't like my tail of the scales…"

"Dude," Miko butted in, "Even without the wings, your horns would be a dead giveaway too."

Reaching up, he felt each horn between his fingers and sighed, "What do I do now…?" he looked from his mother to the bots, looking for some kind of answer.

Optimus knelt down, "For the time being, I believe keeping you here would be safest Jackson, due to both your current condition, and MECH's own agenda."

Jack scowled at the mention of those dragon killers, "Yeah…thanks Optimus," he said, and looked at June.

She shrugged, "Long as your safe, I'll happily let you stay here. Better than being out in the open."

"But wait…" Raf interrupted, "What if Agent Fowler comes in and sees Jack like this?" he asked.

Miko gasped, "If he sees that Jacks the Ambassador, he might try and take him away to keep him safe until he changes into a full dragon."

Jack growled and his wings pressed tightly against his back while his tail whipped around, "He could try. I'm no one's pet or puppet." he hissed.

Arcee looked at June who looked more concern then her son, "We'll make sure Fowler doesn't know June," she promised.

June smiled, "Thanks…" she had spent so much time worrying about what would happen when Jacks 'powers' started manifesting. She was glad to see that he had friends that would protect him when she couldn't.

Raf's phone suddenly went off and the young boy pulled it out and flipped it open, "Hello?" he asked.

His expression soured, "I'm sorry I... No I didn't…okay, I'll be home soon mama.." his phone clicked shut and Raf looked at the others.

"That was my mom, she wanted to know where I was. It's past curfew, and I'm supposed to be going home about now." he explained.

The others nodded while Bee transformed to vehicle mode, "Ratchet," Optimus ordered, "Open a bridge."

Nodding, Ratchet typed in the coordinates and pulled down a lever, making the bridge swirl to life. June leaned over next to her son, "What is that?"

"Ground bridge," he whispered back, "Think of it as a sort of instant transportation device the bots use."

"Oh, that's… wow." June said, looking at the massive swirling portal.

Jack nodded, "Agreed."

Bulkhead looked to Miko, "Come on Miko, you have homework to finish up. We'll go with Bee and Raf,"

"Aww!" she whined, "But Bulkhead!"

"What did we talk about?" the wrecker reminded her.

She crossed her arms and pouted, "Fine fine." she growled, and started down the stairs while Bulkhead transformed.

A low rumble echoed through base and the four left, leaving only June, Arcee, Optimus, Ratchet, and of course Jack left. And at that moment, the teen rolled his shoulders, feeling the last of his aches fade away for now and a large yawn at the end to seal the deal.

June frowned, "I think it's time you went to sleep Jack,"

"That…" he yawned again, "That actually sounds really good."

"There a bed he could use?" June asked Optimus.

"Unfortunately, most of the human quarters were dismantled when we took ownership of this base," Optimus informed her.

"It's fine mom," Jack waved off her concern, "I'll just sleep on the couch."

"You sure? I don't want you-"

"Mom," he interrupted, "I'm sure."

"Alright," she said in defeat, "You're the boss, I'll meet you up there. I want to do one last check up on you before heading home." she told him.

Jack paused for a minute before shaking his head, "No, that's not a good idea mom."

"Why not?"

"MECH," Jack answered, "They know where we live, and if no one's there to protect you, they'll try to get you to get to me."

"I'll keep an eye on her Jack," Arcee said, kneeling down, "Long as it's okay with Optimus."

The Prime nodded while June and Jack went upstairs, the latter sitting on the couch, his tail wrapping around his waist while his wings pressed against his back.

"That's going to take some getting used to," June muttered, and motioned for him to lift his arms.

"How do you think I feel?" Jack asked with a yawn.

June stretched his wings out while he yawned, suppressing the urge to chuckle. Staying awake was something Jack was not good at. The tired look on his face was evidence of that.

"You seem fine," June said, letting his wings and tail fall back into place, "I'd just take a shower or something tomorrow, your scales are getting dirty."

Jack nodded and curled up on the couch, kneading it with his talons before resting his head on a pillow and wrapping his tail around the basic shape of his body. His eyes quickly closed and June smiled.

"Good night Jack," she whispered, giving him a kiss on the forehead, "I'll see you tomorrow…"

The following day, Jack slowly woke to the sound of the television playing, his eyes sliding open before blinking a few times. He lifted his head and looked around to see Miko and Raf were there, sitting in front of the TV, which had its volume down fairly low.

"Guys?" he muttered, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Oh look, scales is up and awake!" Miko giggled.

A low growl slipped out of his throat while his wings spread wide and stretched, "Not funny Miko."

"It's a little funny," she shot back.

Jack just sighed and shook his head, his tail moving to rest across his lap. Raf looked at his friend curiously, "Is it…weird having extra limbs?" he asked.

"No, not at all actually," Jack shook his head, "It's just like having arms and legs. You don't really notice them…most of the time." he briefly remembered slamming his tail in the door. No wonder animals hated it when that happened. It hurt like the pit!

A sudden beep caught everyone's attention and they turned to Ratchets terminal. The medic looked at the terminal and a look of worry passed over his faceplate.

"I had hoped that my growing expertise on the subject would remain purely academic," Ratchet said with a note of worry "but though faint, this is clearly a Dark Energon signature, and its moving fast."

Jack shivered as he remembered the capabilities of the substance. It's ability to weaken or kill bots upon contact, and it's disturbing quality of being able to reanimate the dead. Of course there was only one being who possessed any of the substance.

"Megatron" Prime said, as if reading Jack's thoughts.

"But King cons dead, so who else could it be?" Arcee said as she approached with Bulkhead.

"And what's he gonna do with it, recruit a new army of the undead?" Bulkhead asked.

"Zombiecons!?" Miko exclaimed in excitement.

Optimus put a servo to his chin "We cannot rule out the possibility," he said "especially since Megatron appears to be heading to a familiar location."

The Prime turned to the team "It would appear that in his absence, Starscream maybe attempting to succeed where Megatron failed in raising an undead army. Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Ratchet prepare to rollout!" Prime ordered.

"Me?" Ratchet asked in confusion.

Optimus turned to the medic "If we are dealing with dark Energon I may well require your expertise. Arcee-"

The femme gave him a pleading look, begging him to take her with him "You shall remain here and operate the ground bridge." Optimus ordered.

Arcee's winglets drooped as she nodded in understanding and stood in front of the terminal.

"Go get 'em Bulkhead, bring the hurt." Miko said calmly. Bulkhead slammed his servos together in response.

Jack stared at the girl in shock before turning to Raf "That's not like Miko to not wanna go." he said, suspicious of the girls plans. His wings and tails shifted slightly.

"She's definitely up to something." Raf agreed.

Arcee pulled down on the lever, and the bridge sprung to life. The four Autobots transformed to vehicle mode and drove through the portal. Miko looked over her shoulder for a brief second, before she took off down the stairs.

"Making a break!" Jack said. He leapt up from the sofa and sprinted after the Japanese teen, leaping off the edge of the platform, his small wings slowing his descent enough for him to take off running when he landed.

Jack grabbed her arm as she reached in walkway to the portal "It's not safe!" he yelled.

"I am not going to miss my first zombie con smack down!" she retorted, and ripped her arm from Jacks grip.

"Miko!" he called and chased after the girl.

The three exited the portal right as it closed, cutting off their return and leaving them in a large desert canyon littered with rocks and stone hills. Jack saw Miko run up a small hill and lie on her stomach.

"Let's see some fight of the living dead already!" she yelled excitedly.

Jack followed with Raf "Miko what were you thinking!" he scolded.

"She wasn't." Raf answered for him.

"Hey I totally missed out last time, this could be my only time to take some snaps." she explained. Jack let out a groan.

"If it weren't for the fact that the bots were right there, I'd fly you back to base right now." he said.

"Dude you can't fly." she said.

He growled at her, "Not yet." he corrected.

The girl rolled her eyes at him and reached for her phone. When she couldn't feel it she stood up searching her pockets and belt "My cell phone! I must have dropped it back at base!" she cursed and glared at Jack.

"This is all your fault!" she screamed at him "I can't believe you made me lose my phone!"

"How is this my fault?" Jack demanded, his wings unfurling.

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of the ground bridge activating. Jack and the others turned to it, when another activated over by the mound containing the zombie con. A low groan started to emanate through the area, and the three looked around uncertainly.

"You three, into our ground bridge now!" Ratchet ordered.

"Come on." Jack said hauling Miko to the bridge.

Right as they stepped into the portal, a massive blast occurred, and knocked the three back. Jack winced as he landed on his wings and twisted them awkwardly. After the dust and debris settled the three kids let out a collective groan and began to get up.

Jack was the first up. He looked over his shoulder and stretched the two appendages wide, and was relieved to see them still functioning.

He looked at Miko and Raf who were struggling to their feet, "You guys okay?" he asked. It was odd, but the world seemed… duller, as if the light had been tinted grey. He shook his head, there were more important things to worry about.

"Yeah, I think so." Raf answered.

The kids turned as Bulkhead and the other bots stood to their full heights, joints creaking "Wha-what just happened?" Bulkhead asked.

"I can't be certain, but if two ground bridges sent to the same coordinates crossed streams, the feedback could have triggered a system overload." Ratchet explained.

"Could? Hello! More like totally did!" Miko said, waving her hands.

"The kids made it through right?" Bulkhead asked.

The kids looked at the bots in confusion "What's he talking about?" Jack murmured.

Miko stormed towards Bulkhead "Bulkhead, were right here!" she yelled.

Optimus raised a servo to his comm. "Arcee, did the children make it safely back to base?"

_"Negative, no sign of them."_ she reported

"There's no sign of them here either." Ratchet mused, rubbing his chin.

"No sign!" Miko yelled indignantly and stomped to Bulkheads foot "Okay seriously Bulk-" before she could finish Bulkhead stepped towards her. Miko let out a scream and stumbled back as the mech's foot passed _through_ her.

She stumbled back and Jack steadied her "He passed right through you! We might not be alive." Jack said, though he doubted it.

"I don't want to be a ghost!" Raf squeaked and he gripped Jacks tail.

A realization passed through Jacks mind "Wait, how can we touch each other?" he asked as Miko stood back up. He looked at Raf, who sheepishly released the scaled limb.

The Autobots began to walk away from the children. The three followed closely behind, not wanting to lose track of their friends.

"Ratchet, could the children have been transported onto the _Nemesis_ instead?" Optimus asked.

"Not likely," the medic replied, "if Starscream didn't arrive at our base…the most likely explanation is a dislocation. The children may simply have been Bridged to an unintended destination."

The kids came to a stop upon hearing ratchets words "Another place but in the same place." Raf said to himself.

"W-What do you mean?" Jack asked.

"We're probably in a different dimension, some sort of alternate reality, a Shadow zone." Raf explained.

"Nerd alert." Miko announced.

"Look," Optimus said as the bots approached the now empty mound, "Skyquake's tomb is empty,"

"How did we miss Skyquake rising and shining?" Bulkhead asked.

"It would seem Starscream got what he came for," Ratchet said.

"Another matter for another time," Optimus added, "right now our priority is locating Jack, Miko and Rafael. Arcee, bridge us back to Base."

A large shape caught the children's eyes. It was a large mech, and it was slowly lumbering towards the bots, creaking and groaning while it did.

"ZOMBIE!" Miko shrieked.

"Skyquake," Jack whispered, "C'mon, we've got to warn the 'Bots!"

The trio ran towards their friends.

"Guys! Look out!" Jack shouted.

"BULKHEAD!" Miko screamed.

"It's right behind you!" Raf yelled.

Skyquake tried to slash Bulkhead with his talons, but they went right through him.

"Awesome!" Miko cheered, "It can't touch them either!"

Skyquake turned around and roared, coming towards the kids.

"If that thing can't touch the bots…" Jack started.

"Just like we can't..." Miko added.

"Then we're trapped in the Shadow zone…with a Decepticon zombie!?" Raf finished, very nervously.

"If we aren't ghosts now...we will be soon." Miko said in a small voice.

"Not if we _run_!" Jack ordered, dragging his friends away from the zombie con.

The three of them ran as fast as they could, the zombie con slowly following them. They made their way as quickly as possible around a canyon wall, trying to lose the con. The three stopped for a moment and stood behind the wall breathing heavily.

"Dude, can't you just fly instead?" Miko complained.

"Didn't you just say my wings were too small!?" he hissed at her.

"Well maybe I was wrong!" she shot back.

"Doesn't matter, the cons coming again!" Raf interrupted, right as the ground began shaking again.

The three looked at each other… three took off again. About midway through their run, Jack shifted to running on all fours, quickly speeding ahead of the others. Even so, the canyon walls were a maze of corridors and they were making little headway. Every second they could hear the zombie con getting closer and closer, its incessant moaning never stopping.

"Maybe we could set a trap?" Miko asked as Skyquake pursued them, "Try to crush it?"

"With what?" Raf asked, "Nothing around here is solid except us and the ground!"

At that exact moment, the three hit something large and metal, falling to the ground with a simultaneous 'oof!'

Jack shook his head and looked to see Starscream's arm laying in front of them, "What's _that_ doing here!?" he demanded.

"Doesn't matter, con coming!" Miko said, and dragged him away by the wing.

"Ow! Watch the wing!" he hissed, flexing it back into place while they ran.

"Sorry," she said quickly and the three continued to run.

Several minutes later they took another break against the wall, trying to catch their breath, "Need to… need to find a way to contact the bots." Jack said, shifting into a more comfortable position against the wall.

His phone went off, and he reached for it "Nice ringtone." Miko snickered, earning a glare from Jack and Raf.

Jack checked the caller ID "It's Arcee." he announced and answered.

"Hello?" he said, answering the phone and getting nothing but static, "Arcee!? Arcee!?"

Nothing.

"Gee, imagine that!" Miko started, sarcastically, "The fourth dimension has _lousy_ cell phone reception!"

"Wait… the phone… the phone _rang,_" Jack began, "We're getting a signal…"

"Maybe the Autobots can't see or hear us is because...we're, moving at hyper speed or something," Raf guessed.

"Do you think that, they could read us perhaps?" Jack asked weakly

"Texting!" Raf exclaimed.

"Text me!" Miko said, "If my phones back at the Base…maybe they'll see it!"

A loud crash caught their attention and they turned to see Skyquake stumble around the corner with a moan. The con spotted them and loosed a loud roar before trudging toward them.

"Think you can text and run?" Miko asked, slowly backing up.

Jack handed the phone to Raf, and his wings spread, "Okay… Let's go… Raf, you text them." he said and the three moved as fast as they could.

"We're dealing with fluctuating energy profiles inside a wide distortion field, but it may be possible to back trace their coordinates." Ratchet explained as he hurriedly typed on the console.

A small vibration suddenly caught everyone's attention. The bots turned to the sound and saw Miko's phone vibrating.

"Mikos phone!" Bulkhead exclaimed "It wasn't vibrating before." he lightly tapped the top, causing it to flip open.

"In alternate dimension with Zombie. Help." he read. The room fell completely quiet.

Arcee turned to Ratchet "Ratchet, can you trace the position of the signal?" she asked quietly.

"In a parallel dimensional plane!?" he yelled "Let's find out." and he got to work.

While he did that, Arcee called June "June, it's Arcee. Jacks and the others are in trouble and we may need you."

The kids grunted as they pushed Starscream's arm into firing position. They'd stumbled across it again while fleeing the con, and planned to use it to fight off Skyquake.

Jack approached the hand of the arm and grabbed the index finger "Stay back," he ordered, "I'm stronger than both of you." Both of them nodded and backed away while the dragon teen held onto the claw.

The con began to walk into range of the missile, and Jack waited.

**Thud!**

Wait for it…

**Thud!**

Wait for it…

**Thud**

Now!

Jack pulled on the index finger, and the missile on the arm shot out towards the zombie con. There was a large explosion and a brilliant ball of fire and smoke engulfed it. When the smoke cleared the con still stood.

"Oh come on!" Miko yelled.

There was some sparking and creaking, and Skyquake's right arm fell off. The con himself stood there stupidly, unsure of what to do.

To the shock and horror of the kids though, the arm began flexing and moving on its own. It flipped itself right side up and charged at the kids; using its fingers to move faster than Skyquake actually could.

"Come on come on!" Jack yelled, herding the others away, wings flapping uselessly.

Miko looked over her shoulder at the approaching zombie arm, "How can the zombie arm move faster than the actual zombie!?" She demanded.

"Don't ask me!" Jack yelled back, "I barely understand what's happening to me!"

Their freak out was interrupted as a gravelly voice echoed through the canyon, "Skyquake, your master summons you!" it echoed.

They all looked to see Starscream standing there, wandering through the maze of corridors, his right arm missing.

"How'd that freak get in our dimension!?" Miko screamed.

"He didn't." Jack corrected, "Or else he would have seen us."

The approaching arm caught Miko's attention, "Forget Starscream! We gotta run!" Miko cried, pointing Jack at the arm coming their way, "…Some more."

A familiar sound suddenly caught their attention, and the kids turned to see the ground bridge open behind them.

"The bots got our text!" Miko cheered.

"Go…" Jack ordered and turned to face the claw.

"Jack what are you doing?" Miko demanded.

"Buying you time, the arm is too fast … Go!" he yelled.

Looking between Starscream and the claw, the kids decided on the lesser of two evils and sprinted through the portal under a surprised Starscream's legs. Jack snarled at the arm approaching him, and at the last second dropped flat on his back and kicked his legs into the arm. It went flying through the portal…right into Starscream's faceplate.

"Gah!" he squealed, "This isn't my arm!"

"No it's not," Jack agreed, running under the cons leg.

"You!" Starscream hissed, and flung Skyquakes missing arm to the side, "The human vermin!"

He started after Jack, who immediately began sprinting away from Starscream, not sure where the others were. Lucky for him, Starscream hadn't killed the arm yet, so it came back for round two, giving Jack to get around the corner, chest heaving for air.

"Well that could have been worse, now I just…I just need to…" Jack felt his throat suddenly go dry, and a dull pain fill his very core. It wasn't a sharp over the top pain like when his horns or wings grew in. It was a far reaching pain the stabbed into his very heart.

Stumbling forward, Jack fell to his knees and grabbed at his arms, a low pitiful growl emanating from his throat. He felt something inside him crack along his ribs, and bit back a yell of pain. And as if to make it worse, a warm feeling started to spread through his chest, a heat that kept building and building in his chest.

"Need…to…get…" he stumbled forward, getting to his feet and dragging his leg, which refused to work, behind him. He saw a small cave ahead of him and hobbled over to it, the pain growing worse.

"Cover…need…hiiiii…" his voice promptly stopped working as his jaw dislocated itself.

_'No, not now, why now!' _he silently pleaded. The only response he got was his good leg suddenly cracking, and his jeans ripping. Jack collapsed at the edge of the cave and looked down at his legs. His left leg was fine, but his right leg…

The cloth had torn apart from his scales rubbing against it, and he saw his leg reshaping itself, reforming into a digit grade limb. God no, it was happening! It was finally happening! He needed to get into that cave.

Digging his talons into the ground, Jack dragged himself into the cave, feeling and hearing other bones crack, and feeling sharp pains along his spine. Skin split as small little spikes started to protrude from each vertebrate.

He collapsed once inside the cave, and arched his back, screaming as bones snapped and dislocated, muscle growing, cloth tearing…and then blackness.

"Any sign of him?" Arcee asked over comm. Three hours, for three hours they had been searching for Jack. After bridging the kids back into their dimension, the bots had quickly bridged to their location and met up with them…all except Jack, who had vanished.

Upon learning this, Optimus had ordered the Autobots to split up and look for the teen and report their findings. So far, they had found nothing.

_"Nothing," _Bulkhead reported.

_**"Same here," **_Bee added.

_"I fear my luck has been fruitless as well," _Optimus sighed.

"We have to keep looking," Arcee insisted, "He can't have gotten too far, even with those wings of his." She feared the worst had happened to the boy, that the cons had captured him, but she didn't believe that. Jack wasn't caught by Airachnid, he wouldn't be caught by _Starscream _of all bots. He was just lost, that was all.

Arcee continued walking through the maze of canyons, when she heard the sound of pede steps walking through the canyon. Pressing herself against the canyon wall, she peaked over the side and cursed. Starscream and several Vehicons were patrolling the area near a small cave, the seeker still missing his limb.

They seemed to be looking for the missing body part, and Arcee grinned, until she looked at the cave itself. It looked like a normal cave except the entrance was stained with…was that blood!? And cloth!?

Her servos tightened into fists, what had they done!

"Optimus, I think I found Jack near a group of cons. He might be hurt." she reported.

_"Roger Arcee, stay and wait for back up." _the Prime ordered.

"That's a negative Optimus, I'm going in." she replied, and cut off her comm. while her servos shifted into blasters.

"Hey cons!" she yelled and rolled out from cover firing at them.

The group turned at her, in time for one to fall under her barrage. The others opened fire on the femme, who sprinted forward, dodging between blasts. Her servos shifted to blades, and she jumped into the air, falling forward and slicing her blades through two Vehicons necks. Their heads went flying and their bodies hit the floor with shattering thuds.

Rolling to the side, Arcee opened fire on another con, stunning it. She twisted on her heel and knocked the one behind her off its pedes, and back flipped over it, kicking another con into the dirt. She opened fire once more…only for a missile to hit her in the back. Pain lanced through her systems, and the femme collapsed to the ground in front of the cave, Energon leaking from the wound.

"Well, well, well," Starscream rasped, casually strolling towards her while the other cons got to their feet and surrounded her.

"If it isn't the Autobot Arcee," he sneered, looking down at her with disgust, "How _pleasant_ to see you again."

Arcee rolled onto her back, ignoring the pain, and glared at the cons, "The feeling is mutual Starscream." she growled, "Where's the human!?"

Starscream arched an optic ridge, "How should I know? I've been looking for my missing appendage your oh so gracious leader shot off me. I have no interest in your vermin. Though, I can happily reunite you both in the well of Allsparks." he pointed a blaster at her faceplate.

She continued to glare at him, "I'll see you there shortly screamer." she hissed.

"Bold words," Starscream chuckled, before his blaster hummed to life, "But sadly, they are just those….words."

"Now then…goodbye…" Starscream's blaster began to illuminate…when a low rumbling growl emanated from the cave, making him stop and look up.

"What was that?" he demanded, and looked to two Vehicons, "You two, investigate!"

The Vehicons shrugged and walked over to the cave… and the growl grew louder, turning into a low hiss. The Vehicons readied their blasters…when a silvery blue blur shot from the face, knocking the first one over and tearing the others throat out.

Arcee didn't see all of what followed, but she heard blaster shots followed by screams of shock and metal tearing. Starscream stumbled away from the femme, letting her sit up… in time to see Starscream's remaining arm get crunched between the jaws… of a dragon.

It was a large creature, about twenty feet from its head to the base of its tail, and had a lean muscular build. The scales on its back were a deep blue with a silvery tint to them, while the scales on its underside where a shining silver with a blue tint. Both sides shone and glimmered in the sunlight like gemstones.

Two large horns jut backwards from its skull, spreading apart before closing in on each other at the tip. Its tail was finned at the end, with spikes running along its spine up to the base of its skull, and its wings… Its wings were huge, easily more than a fifty foot wingspan, with a thing deep blue membrane stretched between each 'finger' of the wing.

"Unhand me you vile verm-GAH!" Starscream squealed as the dragon dug its long fangs into his arm, the metal crunching under its death grip. It looked at him with silver-blue eyes, and a brief message was exchanged.

"This is Lord Starscream requesting an emergency ground bridge!" he screeched. A bridge opened behind him and the dragon released him, glaring at the seeker.

Starscream held his injured arm to his chest, "Prey we don't meet again. I will kill you next time." he growled.

The dragon snorted and slowly rose to its hind legs, rearing back its serpentine head back… and roared. It was a powerful earth shaking roar, that echoed through the canyon… and made Starscream scramble through the portal, leaving a puddle of lubricant in his wake.

Satisfied with having sufficiently scared the piss out of the seeker, the dragon fell back on all fours. It turned to look at Arcee, and started forward…before its right hind leg gave out, a shallow but long gash running along its thigh. The dragon hit the ground and let out a hurt moan.

Arcee got to her pedes, and limped over to the dragon, which looked up at her with big eyes, "Th-thank you…" she murmured, patting its head carefully.

The dragon looked at her, and she saw familiarity in its eyes, and finally the connection was made. Honestly, Arcee was angrier with herself for not seeing it sooner. The scales should have been a dead giveaway. Still, there was only one way to find out.

"Jack?"

The dragon bowed its head and nodded…

**A/N: So…Cliffhanger! Ha ha! Bet you thought you'd escape those, but nope! More Cliffhangers for everyone! But seriously guys, what'd you think of the chapter, huh? Good, bad, rushed? I want to know what you're thinking, tell me what's on your mind. Be it via Review or PM, questions and critique are welcome. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Bye!**


End file.
